Salvage malls with garages?

Andres Duany came up with a creative stimulus proposal that ties into the need to retrofit suburbia. A growing number of malls across the US are “going dark,” yet are in prime locations to build new urban centers. Such sites represent the most promising opportunities to remake suburbia, experts say (see page 1). The problem is that cars don’t disappear entirely and still need parking — generally in the form of structured parking, an expensive immediate investment. “This is what the CNU should propose to Obama and then lobby for, under the category of “infrastructure funding,” Duany says. “The building of parking garages on the 400-plus moribund shopping mall sites — on the condition that they be retrofitted into town centers. This would give the private sector incentive to invest in rebalancing them with housing and offices. These are the future town center/TODs that will be the salvation of the suburban sprawl which surrounds them.”