Walking through some Connecticut malls today can be a depressing experience: vacant storefronts, shuttered anchor stores, rundown exteriors and empty parking lots abound.
The shift to e-commerce, accelerated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has turned some of these once bustling centers of commerce into shadows of their former selves.
But can these one-time seemingly invincible retail titans be brought back to life, even in the face of the growing popularity of Amazon and other online commerce sites?
Hotels and office buildings being converted to apartments. Mall space being transformed into healthcare and mixed-use facilities. Old manufacturing plants being re-imagined as modern e-commerce warehouse distribution centers.
All these types of redevelopment projects are occurring around our state and country. As we move closer to a post-pandemic world, I believe we are headed toward a great period of redevelopment.