Anderson's firm, Focus, and the owner of the malls, Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate, aim to replicate the symbiosis that exists in cities and in some suburban downtowns. They're betting the apartments will support retail and restaurants, and vice versa.
At Hawthorn, on the site of a former Sears store, they're creating an integrated package with 311 apartments above 52,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space opening out onto new sidewalks and streets. Focus isn't just plopping an apartment building down on a nearby parking lot.
If it works, the apartments will attract both suburban empty nesters and aging millennials who want to leave the city—but maybe not completely.