Plan for reuse of large-format retail buildings, or work with a local school, church or commercial building to either add-on space or repurpose space into new uses.
Best Practice of this action
Keywords
schools
Resources
- Known by different terms - big box abandonment, ghostboxes, greyfields - the reality of large empty building shells is not uncommon for cities. See many big-box reuse stories from around the country.
- Ferndale, WA established, by ordinance, a three-pronged approach to retail development, including big-box stores, which includes a scorecard called EAGLE (Energy efficiency, Advanced technologies, Greater good, Low impact, Economic development).
- Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings in Rural Minnesota (MN Extension: 2019) features 12 projects and explores how to reuse vacant buildings such as schools, depots, opera houses and churches.
- Empty office buildings are being turned into vertical farms (Smithsonian Magazine, 2023), using underutilized space for local food.
- The city's economic development talent and contacts can assist a school program, faced with declining enrollment, to remain in its building by leasing building space.
Order Number
3
Action Type
Finite