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Malls Make a Comeback — as Medical Centers
Medical tenants have once-dormant malls thriving again
One Hundred Oaks Mall was failing before the Vanderbilt University Medical Center moved in. CoStar Group . Want proof? Visit , a site dedicated to chronicling the downfall of the mall via sobering (and a little bit eerie) pictures of formerly thriving shopping centers now in decay. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Today, approximately 1,100 enclosed shopping malls remain, though analysts expect about 400 of those to shutter in the next few years. ,But according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal, the malls that remain may find new life via an unlikely source: the medical industry. More and more malls are now being reborn as medical and healthcare centers. The most recent is the former Atrium Mall in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Atrium, located just outside Boston, shuttered in 2013 after years of decline — at its closing, its occupancy rate hovered near an anemic 20 percent. Early this year, following a $100 million overhaul, the mall’s owner, Bulfinch Companies, reopened the space as the renamed Life Time Center, a gigantic fitness-centric facility, complete with gym, and doctor’s offices. And in early June, the Life Time Center scored its highest profile new tenant yet, when the renowned Dana Farber Cancer Institute signed a deal to lease two floors of the building as a satellite center for their downtown location. When it opens at the facility in 2019, the new hospital “plans to host clinical trials, exams, infusions, and other services to newly diagnosed cancer patients,” according to the Boston Globe. AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. need space, which the malls can offer at attractive rental rates. It’s not an entirely new concept —urgent care clinics have been popping up in malls for nearly 20 years, and medical mall makeover movement dates back nearly as far, to when the Jackson Medical Mall opened its doors in 1998. That mall is now home to the University of Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Institute. But the Journal notes the trend is picking up pace, as doctors and hospitals look to expand their offerings and seek out places that are convenient to patients and with ample parking spaces. Old malls both those specifications. Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > In Nashville, the Hundred Oaks Mall offers an example of success that places like the Life Time Center in Massachusetts hope to replicate. Hundred Oaks was failing when the Vanderbilt University Medical Center signed on as its anchor tenant in 2009 — today, the mall is at 98 percent occupancy, and Vanderbilt Health exists alongside tenants such as TJ Maxx and Chipotle. “It’s a big part of demand growth for retail space,” Hans Nordby, managing director for Portfolio Strategy at CoStar, told Bloomberg News last year. “Ten years from now we aren’t going to think anything about it. It will be like, 'I went to the strip mall, I saw the doctor, and then I bought a pair of shoes.'" More on health AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS