Thinking outside the box store

The mall in Irondequoit, New York, had been empty for years. Stores were closing in this once-bustling hub near Rochester. The parking lot stood empty. But now, the mall is filling up again, with the opening of new apartment housing for residents 55 and over.

 

The space where Sears once stood is now Skyview Park Apartments, which includes 157 one- and two-bedroom units. Amenities include courtyards, balconies and high-speed internet.

 

The idea to put housing in the mall started with Amy Casciani, senior vice president of real estate development for Pathstone. "I saw the mall go up in its heyday," she says. "I used to bring my children there. They had activities for kids. A carousel. A food court." Older adults used the mall as a place to walk indoors and to have lunch with friends.

 

But the mall went downhill. In the late 1990s, there were rumors of crime. By 2010, many of the stores had closed. "It was vacant," Casciani says. "It affected the whole neighborhood."

 

Over the years, different developers had talked about buying and rebuilding. All along, Casciani had the idea of a very different purpose for the mall: housing for adults 55 and older. The area had a shortage of housing for older adults, and the town's consolidated plan listed it as a need. In 2018, Pathstone began working with the developer. They purchased the Sears building and leased the ground beneath it. They also constructed an adjacent building next door.

 

Then began an overhaul, including a new roof, the addition of the courtyards, and, of course, the apartments. As construction started, the town redeveloped another anchor store as a community center, which includes a senior center. A local hospital leased yet another store for their nursing program. A smaller store became an adult daycare center. Now, Casciani says, there are cars in the parking lot once again. 

 

"We wanted enough units to help create an economy of scale for Pathstone but also enough to make sense for businesses interested in seniors to come to the mall," she says. "We wanted economic growth to continue."

 

The mall is starting to come back to life, says Joshua Sankowski, director of program relations for Pathstone. "In the six years I have worked with Amy, her vision to transform part of the vacant Irondequoit Mall into much-needed senior housing never wavered." Now, that vision is a reality. 

 

"Irondequoit's motto is 'A Town for a Lifetime,' and the new Skyview Park helps make that possible for more of our Monroe County seniors," says Monroe County Executive Adam Bello. "This project, and the adjacent Irondequoit Community Center and Rochester Regional Health's Isabella Graham Hart School of Nursing, are stellar examples of adaptive reuse that improve our quality of life and make our neighborhoods stronger."

 

The senior population is expected to grow in the next decade, as is the demand for senior housing, he says. "It's great to see developers embrace repurposing obsolete spaces into new, amenity-rich facilities and incorporating senior housing as a component of mixed-use development."

 

This is not the first time Pathstone has looked to "adaptive reuse," a way to bring vitality to buildings by finding new ways to utilize them, shares Kathryn Bryan, senior vice president of property management. The network nonprofit, which has a rental portfolio of 3,500 apartments in 87 locations, has also converted a hospital and a school into housing. The mall property, renovated with accessibility in mind, is the most recent, and won't be the last. "We always have a new project coming online."

Affordable housing can be like a patchwork quilt, says Lisa Getter, vice president of national real estate programs for NeighborWorks America. "It's a patchwork of a lot of different approaches. We're building new construction and preserving current housing. But we have to have other tools in our toolbox. Adaptive reuse is one of those tools."

Reuse has been on her mind lately as she looks at unused office space, prompted by the telework trend made necessary by COVID-19. "In many parts of the country, I don't think office occupancy will ever return to pre-pandemic levels," she says. As she drives by empty buildings, she wonders: Could this be turned into affordable housing?

There are complications and considerations when it comes to adaptive reuse, including logistics, zoning and, of course, costs. But when everything lines up, adaptive reuse can have enviornmental benefits and cost savings that can be passed on. "That can be part of the equation of bringing life to vacant structures – and bringing life to communities," Getter says.

Residents began moving into Skyview Park in October. Christina Brooks, director of housing management, expects to see the building full by March.  
 

For NeighborWorks network organizations that might consider a similar transformation as a solution in communities searching for out-of-the-box ideas in apartments and land, Pathstone leaders have this advice: