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Exactly..... If they want to demand the steadily increasing rents, they'd need to bring back the benefits that they removed over the last several decades that had made that square footage "gold" in the first place. From the time the Arnot Mall was built until somewhere in the mid-late ‘90s, it operated with the basic recipe/formula that made other malls across America thrive (and justifying the higher rent costs to their tenants). Free Events like pageants, art shows, parades, etc drawing consumers into the facility. Non-Competition clauses in their leases that promised tenants that they wouldn’t have to fight over customers for identical goods and services right down the hall.....while providing consumers with a Wide Variety of shops & services. Anchor Stores comprised of large, popular, national retailers with traffic from a consistent customer base. Then we saw some of the “ingredients” in that recipe being skimped on (or completely omitted) in order for the Mall Management to squeeze more profits...... Instead of hosting free events, they began charging vendors to participate (like the Farmer’s Market Chris mentioned). Eventually, they just offered up corridors full time to any fly-by-night junk dealer who wanted a booth. There was also no longer any attempt to protect older tenants from competition. Any new booth or storefront can come along and sell the same stuff as the next guy. And with the rent being too damn high.....a lot of those new tenants don’t invest in any remodeling or refacing of the old business. They just throw tarps up as walls and use temporary banners for signage. Whereas people used to show up for themed free events, no one goes to the Mall for the enjoyment of browsing a dozen cheap booths and trashy stores full of the same Chinese junk they can get at Dollar General. So...less traffic. And less traffic means more of the businesses leave– so raise the rent of course! Because going back to the business model that was successful would just be crazy.

I find it hilarious she pointed out the fact that she was using British spelling

@MsKreed hit the nail on the head several times, so there’s little use for me to say the same things, but less eloquently. The Arnot Mall is nowhere near unique when it comes to the state it is currently in. Years ago I was at a mall in Syracuse, the name escapes me now, and I couldn’t believe the state it was in. And now ours is the same, but bigger and cleaner. When I was in Buffalo this past summer we went to the Walden Galleria Mall and I think there were only 2-3empty storefronts. So it is possible to have real life retail stores in a mall. Perhaps it’s not the retail industry that’s the problem? It’s astounding to me when the mall looks like this on a Friday night: (Photos were posted to FB by a friend last week.) When it would normally look like this: This third photo was taken by our son on Trunk or Treat night. He couldn’t believe how many people there were. And even that is a pretty light crowd compared to the 80s and 90s. When it comes to “imagination”, my own imagination sees this giant indoor area filled with local businesses who are paying a far more reasonable price for the space they’re leasing. And I understand that once upon a time that square footage was gold, but is it anymore? Obviously not. So why not drop the price, get some storefronts open and bodies in there? Years ago when I worked there, I was talking to the mall manager at that time. I mentioned an indoor farmers market. They said they’d tried that, but the farmers didn’t want to pay the prices the mall charged to set up a space. When I asked the price, they didn’t respond directly. And as I said then, I’m sure the average small farmer looked at their price, considered how much product they’d have to sell and noped out. Due to its proximity to the airport, there’s some things that can’t be done with the mall. My understanding is that’s a large reason why Holiday Inn or whoever was supposed to set up shop there backed out. Then of course COVID came along and for many, it was the coup de grace.

The old Macy's is currently being utilized as an event space. There were several "community gardens" started over the years. I know there was on in Elmira. There was one up here in Erin where I live. Interest in them lasted 2 or 3 years.

A millennia of fiction writing proves that ‘imagination’ is limitless. However, realism and pragmatic solutions are constrained by actual real-world boundaries. And remember that we’re talking about hypothetical uses for a privately owned, commercial property (that once hugely contributed to financial prosperity in the area). Unless one's “imagination” includes a fantasy world where tax revenue is not needed, and hinges on the expectation that the owners should just surrender their asset for “the public good”....those three ideas would need to be at least analogous in that they are profitable and produce more jobs and tax revenue. And in the interest of distinguishing mere ‘imagination’ from realistic scenarios.....each concept should include cited examples of anyone, anyplace actually achieving them for some realistic length of time. There are plenty of criticisms we can throw at the current Mall management for its deteriorating role in the local economy. Wanting it to be even less economically successful seems like the antithesis of a solution. It’s beyond asinine to suggest reducing the Mall’s business revenue when the local economy needs the opposite. We already have a surplus of underutilized publicly owned and completely vacant/derelict private properties that are currently less beneficial to the community than they should be.....even less so than the mall. The Arena, Erie Plaza, Hills Plaza. While it’s still probably an impractical idea to invest millions of dollars into re-inventing those places as public resources like community gardens and municipal centers....at least doing so would not eliminate existing business revenue potential.

I find your answer totally lacking imagination. There are many, many ways that site could be repurposed/converted. Too many to go into here.

"Flattening" the mall for any reason is a terrible idea. Repurpose it, yes, but don't tear it down.