The Mall of the Future Will Have No Stores

Ford's 10-year lease at Fairlane Town Center [in Michigan] "brought 1,800 to 2,000 employed people to our property, people with a paycheck," said Mr. Powers. The mall, which is still anchored by Macy's , J.C. Penney and Sears, is currently 91% leased, he said, and its food operators are doing better in the daytime than they did before, as Ford workers pile in for lunch.

Ford liked the mall's proximity to its main facility in Dearborn, which is being rebuilt over the next 10 years, and its wide open spaces.

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In all, retailers have announced 2,880 store closings from January to April 6 of this year, more than twice as many as in the same period a year earlier, according to Credit Suisse . For the full year, the investment bank anticipates more than 8,600 stores to close. Analysts predict that 400 or so of the roughly 1,100 malls in the U.S. will close in the coming years.

Many mall owners are trying to liven up the experience, bringing more dining and entertainment tenants and eschewing the traditional mix of middling food courts, fashion retailers and department stores.

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One strategy is to convert enclosed malls into open-air properties that landlords call "lifestyle centers," with apartments, theaters, grocery stores, medical offices and other conveniences--and much less retail.

The Columbus Commons in downtown Columbus, Ohio, was previously home to a 1.25-million-square-foot mall. The park has spurred development around its perimeter, mostly office and residential.

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In Arlington, Va., landlord Forest City Realty Trust is redeveloping Ballston Common Mall by knocking down the main entrance to create a plaza, removing two-thirds of the roof and installing more windows to create wider vistas of open spaces. The Cleveland-based real-estate investment trust is also building 406 apartments linked to the mall.

"We're turning the mall inside out," said Will Voegele, senior vice president at Forest City Realty Trust. "We don't want a building with its back turned to the street."

The firm is converting what was once Macy's furniture store on the third level of the mall into a gathering space for residents, including outdoor patios, seating and landscaping. Its tenant mix will feature more food options and street-facing retail.

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[Columbus, Ohio] "surgically demolished" the [City Center Mall] over a two-year period to retain the underground parking structure, which was still used by workers downtown. In 2011, Columbus Downtown opened a park in its place called Columbus Commons, which has a performance space, two cafes, a carousel and bocce courts.

The park has spurred development around its perimeter, mostly office and residential, and hosts more than 200 events annually. The flagship Lazarus department store, which had been linked to the mall, is now an office building.

Taking some inspiration from parks and high-street retail in New York City, Mr. Worley said Columbus Downtown is looking to add restaurants and art galleries along the streets a block away from the park, preferring to keep the park-facing buildings for residential use.

While there have been no pure retail property projects around Columbus Commons, some retail stores are coming onboard that are "more organic, not national retailers," he added.

"Retail is coming back," he said, "but it's following residential."