Made in America...in a Shopping Mall?

On a recent and very quiet Covid-19 Sunday morning with hardly a vehicular mouse stirring, I decided to change up my running route and circumvented a local mall with its acres of asphalt and lingering sense of almost-deadness. Recent trade wars and the underscoring of our dependence on foreign manufacturing, now exacerbated by the dramatic effects of this coronavirus, got me thinking about an alternative use for these increasingly obsolescent behemoths of the second half of the 20th century. 

What if we could reposition and reimage the dead-and-dying demographic of the (as of 2017) 116,000 shopping malls in this country into upscale manufacturing facilities populated with a uniquely 21st century robotic and ‘white collar’ workforce, embraced by a culture of education and training for a 100% made-in-America future, right within our neighborhoods? I know, crazy, huh? But think of it: 

• Conserving the embodied energy in these (for the most part) solidly constructed, voluminous, building assemblies, with their atriums and high-bay spaces, could mean significantly less development cost.
• The acres of parking and vast expanses of rooftops could be converted into solar farms to power the facility and operations. Net-zero, all-electric, zero emission manufacturing hubs of employment. Hmm. 
• Ready made 18-wheeler trucking access and loading built-in to most mall developments. All we need is to get those self-driving trucks to back up into them.
• The variety of interior spaces - atriums, high-bay anchors, in-line stores - would lend themselves to a diverse range of manufacturing, educational and administrative capacities.

This concept is clearly not without its challenges, such as how to bridge the gap between China’s average manual labor rate of about $6.50/hour and the U.S. minimum wage of $15-17/hour. Or changes needed in the zoning laws of suburban communities to allow for manufacturing. Not to mention NIMBY politics. 

Forbes ran an article in April 2018 addressing the need to reposition malls, suggesting four possible solutions: destination centers, values centers, innovation centers and ‘retaildential’ centers. While these are interesting iterations, I think they address “wants” rather than “needs,” still targeting the spending of wealth rather than the creation of real value. 

Business Insider published a similar article in June 2018, and, in November 2019, cited a Credit Suisse report indicating that between 20%-25% of malls will close by 2022. 

On the other hand, Amazon has been turning malls into warehouses, which, with a little imagination and a few extra dollars might only a couple of steps away from full-on robotic manufacturing facilities. Think of the job-creation and community engagement opportunities!

Anyway, my Sunday run ended on a decently high note, so I decided to offer up a conceptual sketch of a typical shopping mall-cum-manufacturing-facility with the hopes of sparking the imagination of some out-of-the-box REIT manager or daring venture capitalist out there.  Something to ponder while sheltering-in-place. Be safe.