CNU has released its mall study, Greyfields into Goldfields

CNU has released its mall study, Greyfields into Goldfields, in which PricewaterhouseCoopers concludes that approximately 7 percent of the nation’s regional malls are greyfields, i.e., in steep decline and ripe for redevelopment. The firm characterizes an additional 12 percent of malls as “vulnerable.” This translates into a maximum of 140 greyfield malls and at the most 249 vulnerable ones. PricewaterhouseCoopers considers any mall with less than $150 in sales per square foot greyfield. The report is careful to note that “the majority of regional and super regional malls in the US are currently financially viable and healthy.” Will Fleissig, who spearheaded CNU’s involvement in the study, says this conservative approach wards off attacks from the shopping center industry. “We don’t want to have the Wall Street analysts take a run at the REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) stocks” in the belief that malls are failing across the board. “That is in nobody’s interest.” CNU is now in the process of cataloging current mall conversion projects.