The Puente Hills Mall
July 13th, 2023It’s a pretty surreal scene at the Puente Hills Mall. Lights on. Air conditioning working. Most store spaces vacant. Almost no customers.
I wonder what the mall spends on electricity to keep that place cool in July??? Hint: The forecast is for low to mid 90s everyday for the week ahead.
The last time I was in a mall was way back in 2005, just before I moved to New Zealand. I bought a Wüsthof serrated knife, which we still use most days.
Do you live near a mall? If so, what’s it like in there?
Via: German in Venice:
Valley View Mall in North Dallas was a very big, nice, popular mall in the 80’s and 90’s. It started slowly going downhill in early 2000’s. A big AMC theater was added in 2004 which slowed but didn’t stop mall’s decline. Last time I was there was maybe 7 years ago, and a lot of it had become a flea market with people renting stalls selling their wares, plus some martial arts training studios. Mall was torn down by 2020, except for AMC theater, and AMC closed 2022, and torn down late that year. Plans are to use location to build Dallas Midtown, having office buildings, apartments, and stores.
One rural New England mall, the only one for 150 miles in any direction, shut down 8-10 yrs ago. Another one, in an urban area, which had been so popular that people came from other states to shop, shut down 15-18 years ago. The former is being maintained with only a few charity stores in it. The latter was left derelict; don’t know what eventually became of it. Why maintain and keep open a virtually empty wall? Is there some tax benefit for the owner? Is there a promise of a profitable future use coming, such as housing illegals?
“Why maintain and keep open a virtually empty wall? Is there some tax benefit for the owner? Is there a promise of a profitable future use coming, such as housing illegals?”
Exactly! Imagine the losses the owner must be taking by keeping that thing open with hardly any stores paying rent.
It’s a weird one.
Regarding the 90 degree weather forecast: I have never seen anybody loitering in these near-empty malls, even though there are homeless and poor folks around who would welcome a little air-conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter. I’ve never seen a policeman or security guard, either, though there are plenty of security cameras.
Is Dallas, will they build a new office complex when the news says commercial real estate vacancies are at their highest?