[o2ny]

Forget tract homes and gated living. The new American dream is a condo right inside the mall
By Mark Morford

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')t began, perhaps, with the rambling communal cancer that is the American tract-home development.

...

Witness, for just one example, the hip, ultramodern outdoor mall in San Jose called Santana Row. Enormous. Five or six full city blocks (558,000 square feet), all contiguous and all carefully preplanned to look like some sort of idyllic "natural" Euro-American village, with benches and grassy areas and trees, all carefully placed but not a single stitch of it evolving organically, fluidly, as a real community develops. Oh my no. That would be, you know, crazy.

Santana Row. It combines all the best/worst/most cliched aspects of the American nouveau rich-wannabe yuppie life into one massive sprawling skillfully designed orgiastically moneyed complex: 70 shops, 20 restaurants, six movie screens, five spas, a four-star hotel, mini-gardens, courtyards, terraces, nice lighting, scented clouds, imported Guatemalan midget slaves, liquid Prozac in the drinking fountains, soul-numbing music, nose jobs and Botox like a requirement, snooty oddly asexual hottie blondes like a rash. It is positively lovely. (Wanna see? Here, take a swell video tour.)

But here is the most amazing part: The entire complex is overlaid with more than 500 pricey housing units, whereby you can actually dump 500K to $2 million of your tech-job money on a very precious and only modestly claustrophobic 1,000-square-foot box and actually live directly in the mall, staring out your giant loft window at either the mall parking lot or the interior of the massive shopping plaza itself (your choice) and casually watch the shoppers 15 feet beneath you across the courtyard meander through, say, the Tommy Bahama store. Joy.

...

[Leanan]

This is how it used to be (and still is, in some small towns). The shops were downstairs, the family who ran the shop lived upstairs.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'T')his is how it used to be (and still is, in some small towns). The shops were downstairs, the family who ran the shop lived upstairs.

[dinopello]

It amazes me that people think this is unusual, but I guess it is in deep suburbia with their dedication to separating every activity of life from each other. It seems the only difference from what used to be the way these things worked is that the apartment above the shop or market used to be the more affordable place because people would rather live off the main shopping streets (still in walking distance) due to noise. Now, they are fetching a premium.

[Heading_for_the_hills]

While I agree Leanan on the basic premise that this is how it used to be in small towns, what we have now is a "sanitized" version of what was "real". It a "Disney-ifaction" of our towns. These are not Mom and Pop stores but rather corporations of mass produced junk encouraging needless consumerism. How are these going to survive when everything is trucked in from vast distances? Furthermore, it is not a town, you cannot "create" a town in one fell swoop...they evolve as living breathing organism. I foresee these being empty shells in a few years. These "Town Centers" are all the rage and have the same feel and shops whether you are in CA or VA... Pottery Barn, Sur La Table, Crate and Barrel, Z Gallery, Williams Sonoma, Bath and Body Works, etc...I could go on and on...but the simple fact is we really could do without those, correct? It is all about Trading Up and keeping up with the Joneses!!

[benzoil]

Ever been in an old, rundown shopping center? The kind where the anchor stores have closed and all that's left is a head shop and a discount furniture place? I'll bet they looked great when they were built, too.

Someone with a better economics background can correct me if I'm wrong but - wouldn't a shopping mall be a depreciating asset in general? Nothing wrong with living above a store, but hasn't it traditionally been either a renter or the storeowner who did so?

Redensifying means doubling up on space and use, but I'm not sure that this counts.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heading_for_the_hills', 'W')hile I agree Leanan on the basic premise that this is how it used to be in small towns, what we have now is a "sanitized" version of what was "real". It a "Disney-ifaction" of our towns. These are not Mom and Pop stores but rather corporations of mass produced junk encouraging needless consumerism. How are these going to survive when everything is trucked in from vast distances? Furthermore, it is not a town, you cannot "create" a town in one fell swoop...they evolve as living breathing organism. I foresee these being empty shells in a few years. These "Town Centers" are all the rage and have the same feel and shops whether you are in CA or VA... Pottery Barn, Sur La Table, Crate and Barrel, Z Gallery, Williams Sonoma, Bath and Body Works, etc...I could go on and on...but the simple fact is we really could do without those, correct? It is all about Trading Up and keeping up with the Joneses!!

[Yavicleus]

Good. Dual use, new urbanist neighborhoods are EXACTLY what we need instead of miles of sprawling McMansions.

[Heading_for_the_hills]

Dinopello

I was not saying that we don't need the town center style living. I am total agreement with the new Urbanism. However, I was berating the stores that seem to occupy the spaces. Sorry, I was getting on my soapbox. I see you are in Arlington, I lived in Reston for a brief stint, and went to Pentagon City quite a bit. I feel that there needs to be a relocalization effort made but I am not sure how and when it would ever be implemented. There are so many cities/towns scattered in the state of VA that are dying and have so much opportunity for a "re-birth" that it seems somewhat crazy to waste so many resources are creating new "faux" cities when so many already exist. I hope that clarifies what I was trying to convey. You mention the town where you grew up, I remember Fredericksburg, VA being an actual working town-with the hardware stores, pharmacy, 5 and 10 store. Now it is mostly a tourist area with quaint antique stores. I don't know what the solution is but I do know that suburbia is not the answer

[KingM]

Sounds like a positive step to me. Not perfect, but better than stripmalls and subdivisions as far as the eye can see.

[o2ny]

Yeah I guess technically you could call this a 'town center', but unlike a real 'old-world' type town, this place completely lacks the shops & businesses selling items of necessity like hardware stores, tailors, pubs, groceries, etc. and instead sells the same semi-useless mall crap you can get anywhere in the country. 'Santana Row' is merely a 'faux' town-center- mimicking the style of the European town but completely devoid of a natural and functioning local community that 'grows' over decades.

Perhaps as PO arrives the structures here can turn into the 'real deal'... the one positive being the back bone of it is indeed a mini-walkable city.

[Zardoz]

Old factories in old urban centers everywhere are being turned into "loft" apartments. Its a national trend, and an effective way to re-populate and re-invigorate the old cities.

Condos above tacky suburban malls does seem a bit odd, though, but if people want to live there, fine.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heading_for_the_hills', 'D')inopello

I was getting on my soapbox.

[Vexed]

A MAJOR reason why residential is being incorporated into commercial is because commercial property prices have not kept pace with residential.

Simply adding a loft to a pre-existing commercial location adds tremendous value because of the present overheated residential market.

This is not about a general move away from suburbia.

This is about improving commercial property values.

[strider3700]

In general malls are some of the cheapest buildings constructed. No need to build it correctly or with good materials if every 5- 10 years it will be partially torn down and replaced for the new client.

There is no way I'd be buying a piece of the mall as my home. The idea is excellent, the product as delivered sucks.

[Bleep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'T')his is how it used to be (and still is, in some small towns). The shops were downstairs, the family who ran the shop lived upstairs.

[Princess]

They have an apartment...a one bedroom apartment...with two and a quarter bathrooms (2-1/4). Who the hell needs 2 & 1/4 bathrooms with a one bedroom apartment? That's the stupidest thing I've seen in a long time. I can understand a full bath and a powder room, but 2-1/4? Good grief!

[formandfile]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'O')ld factories in old urban centers everywhere are being turned into "loft" apartments. Its a national trend, and an effective way to re-populate and re-invigorate the old cities.

[Ibon]

I have to agree with Heading for the Hills. Although this incorporates new urbanism it is anything but an organic community.

A monoculture of high maintenance affluent mostly caucasian consumers enjoying the finest things of life? Some people perceive this as a solution? Give me a break.

You would find me down the road a ways at the taqueria eating some carne asada with some of the illegal immigrants who are cleaning these peoples houses and washing dishes at the restaurants.

Boring boring boring.