TIL some malls got demolished for a tax break, not because they were failing

I was reading an old local news article from 2014 about the Valley View Mall in Roanoke, Virginia. The city gave the owners a 1.4 million dollar tax break to tear it down faster. I always assumed malls die because of empty stores and online shopping. But this one was still about 40 percent leased when they decided to bulldoze it. The reasoning was that a half empty mall hurt surrounding property values more than a vacant lot would. So they basically paid to wipe out a building with people still renting space. Some small shops had to close up within 90 days of notice. That got me thinking. Are we too quick to treat an abandoned mall as a lost cause? I know the parking lot upkeep and roof repairs add up, but a 40 percent occupancy rate sounds like something you could work with. Maybe a flea market setup or a community center. Has anyone explored a mall that was torn down while it still had businesses inside? What happened to those tenants, and do you think the tax break logic was actually sound or just a way to let developers grab the land cheap? I keep going back and forth on this.

2 comments

2 Comments

leo61211d ago

Man, I got evicted from a mall food court once. Rough stuff.

keithbennett11d ago

Corporations treat half-empty spaces like people treat half-empty relationships, just bail instead of fixing them... sorry about your food court gig, @leo612.