The New Wave of Retrofitting Suburbia

Driving down 151st ,or any main streets for that matter, you’re exposed to several stores and shops, embedded throughout these are an alarming number of empty parking lots and abandoned shops, and this number continues to grow.

We call these parking lots “Underperforming Asphalt”. This term is perfect because it effectively describes the waste that most of these parking lots and buildings are. The old Price Chopper located at 151st and Mur-len has sat empty for years and continues to just sit there. The problem comes from humans natural tendency to build bigger and better. So naturally, when a company grows out of a building, the company then moves to a bigger building, similar to a hermit crab. This leaves the old building to sit there and grow old overtime and slowly lose its appeal. This is known as sprawl, which causes the trail of desolate buildings.

Hope is not completely lost, a new fad has hit the Real Estate scene. This fad is known as “Retrofitting Suburbia” . The idea behind it is to take an old building that is not being used any longer and then renovate that building so that it will have a new purpose. For example, down the road the old hotel, Holiday inn, which went out of business sat empty for about six months but has recently been renovated into a nursing home. Giving a building a new purpose can help to add decades on to its lifespan.

The three main stages of retrofitting include re-inhabitation, re-development, and re-greening. The Olathe Public Library is a great example of re-inhabitation. When their old building became to costly, instead of building from scratch, moved to a vacant building in a shopping strip. The Great mall formerly nicknamed “The great waste of space” was recently torn down leaving an open field. Although no plans are final, this land has great plans ahead for it including 150,000 square feet of multipurpose facilities; 250,000 square feet of entertainment, retail and restaurant space; 150,000 square feet of office space; 300,000 square feet of apartments; and two hotels. But also a popular choice is re-greening. This one is very simple. Tearing down old buildings and in their place putting parks and trails. People are becoming more inclined to move places with more green and open spaces. So this makes this option more popular if the land is close to neighbourhoods and schools.

Retrofitting Suburbia has become the catalyst to a new era, instead of the “death to suburbia” it has become “death to sprawl”.

To learn more: https://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_dunham_jones_retrofitting_suburbia