In the Meantime, Life With Landbanking - Project Text

MEDICAL HISTORY

“That mall was a dog from the start.”

So confides a public official of Dutchess County, NY about Dutchess Mall, built in 1974 in a seemingly perfect location: the southeast corner of a major highway interchange in the heart of a county poised for growth (2). But the market nuances at an individual site can be hard to predict, and it turned out that this one was all wrong for a shopping center. The region around it has grown steadily over the past three decades, but Poughkeepsie to the north was the magnet for that growth. Even as the Dutchess Mall was dying, a vital suburban strip evolved on the 10-mile stretch just north of the interstate (3). The busiest Wal-Mart in the northeast is a half mile north, and the strip is also home to three newer regional malls. Dutchess’ site isn’t a bad location, just not right for a typical mall: the population south of 84 is sparse, the corner is hard to see from the highway (4), and for the people living and working to the north, 84 is a psychological barrier they rarely cross. Tenants gradually left Dutchess Mall for the newer ones by Poughkeepsie throughout the 80’s. By the early 90’s it was less than 50% occupied, and in 1998 officially closed its doors. The intersection has proven to be a great spot for other things, however, including the largest Gap/Old Navy distribution center in the country, a cluster of motels and condos, and a few miles down the interstate, IBM’s most state-of-the-art microchip plant.

No one has much hope for resuscitating Dutchess as a shopping mall. The NYC-based team of developers who own it freely admit they are “land banking,” holding the property until land values increase, at which point they can either sell the land at a high profit or redevelop it themselves with less risk than there is today. Economic growth, especially in high tech and biotech, is spreading rapidly up the Hudson corridor from New York City and Westchester County. Dutchess County is an increasingly desirable place to locate research, manufacturing, distribution, and back-office facilities, all of which can capitalize on its proximity to NYC (1), confluence of existing industries, cheap land and housing, the historic/scenic character of the Hudson Valley, and a burgeoning arts scene (the famed Dia Center is opening a huge new contemporary art center in Beacon just 4 miles away, and many nearby towns have seen a major influx of artists). All signs indicate that Dutchess County’s future in these sectors will be bright.

The developers believe with confidence that in time a major tenant will appear, willing to pay a premium to redevelop the site with an all-new land use. In other words the developers, as the mall’s primary care physicians, believe their patient’s only chance for recovery is radical reconstructive surgery. The technology to do the job may not exist yet, but they don’t mind to wait, leaving their patient comatose (or perhaps cryogenically frozen) until the passage of time yields a new treatment.

Some people mind, though, including Jack Villetto, who’s owned the Fishkill Golf Course next door for upwards of 30 years. He can’t stand all the trash that accumulates on the parking lot’s neglected rear edge and blows onto his greens, so patrols the lot himself, in a golf cart, to clear the debris away (24). “This was such a beautiful mall. The people who made it, they really cared about how it looked and kept it nice. Such a shame…” He can’t stand the land-banking tactics: when the Shop-Rite chain left for a better location a few miles north, he claims, it held onto the lease of the Dutchess Mall storefront, just so a competitor wouldn’t move in. “They killed it.”

Local officials and developers also don’t like to see such a prominent property rot away (4-28), especially now that they’re working hard to project a fresh, healthy image for the region. They have hope that the patient could one day revive as its own ecosystem, a mixed-use office park and town center. In 1999 a proposal came forward to rehab and partially redesign the mall as “MetroCentre,” a village-like setting of community uses and offices of various sizes. But MetroCentre was not viable, not at the time. The start-up costs for such an ambitious conversion were high, and the developers couldn’t get financing until they had a major anchor tenant signed on. No major tenants stepped up who would commit to space but then wait for the redevelopment to happen. The vision of Dutchess as a mixed-use office park might be on the right track, but it’s impossible to create a whole new organism from scratch, and all at once. A hearty, self-sustaining creature like MetroCentre needs time to mature…
RESULTS FROM THE LAB

It’s crucial to realize that in the meantime, the mall hasn’t completely died. Dutchess Mall is actually playing host organism for scores of different bacterial cultures that infuse the site with life. You don’t need a microscope to see these new growths on the weekends, when the popular Dutchess Flea Market fills up the old Service Merchandise anchor store and parking lot with crafts, antiques, hardware, haircuts, specialty foods, heavy metal memorabilia, and lots and lots of junk. As the photographs (30-38) make clear, this Dutchess Mall is as lively a space as any. And in a conveniently symbiotic relationship, the tiny rent each of the hundreds of vendors pays for a fold-up table or stall is enough to cover the developers’ property taxes. Lots of other things happen on the site too, formal and informal, scheduled and erratic, sanctioned and illicit: driver’s license testing and practice, roving food carts (18), prostitutes meeting clients (21), truck and mobile home storage (23,26), carpool meetings (22), even the occasional motorcycle rally, political protest, or UFO sighting.

Let’s not overstate the case: decay is ominous. The point is that beyond it (and this is something planners often don’t get beyond) there is a pulse: faint signals here and there, a breath, a murmur, a blip on the EKG that we should, like good doctors, be aware of. Far from having died, the mall has merely transformed. It may be the case that with time, a cure will be found and Dutchess Mall will make a full recovery, probably reborn as a distribution, manufacturing, or research center along the lines of The Gap or IBM, or perhaps more condos. It’s certainly what the developers are hoping for. We are not against the future possibility of such an invasive operation, and it can remain an option at any time. In the meantime, we wonder if there aren’t options for some alternative therapies…

Endogenous Healing endogenous

1. growing or produced by growth from deep tissue.

2. caused by factors deep inside the system

3. produced or synthesized within the organism or system

Accepting the developer’s “land banking” strategy as a given, we’ve chosen to avoid a fixed master plan for redevelopment of the entire site in favor of a collection of small, cheap, feasible (and potentially lucrative) moves that can come in over time and lead to many possible futures. Adaptable to micro fluxes in the economy and demographics of Dutchess County, our interventions would ideally build upon one another and snowball, breathing a whole new life of small synergies and interesting intersections onto the site, all fitting very local, homegrown niches. Lots of little moves might eventually add up to a wholly transformed space: a new life built from the outside in, off of what’s already there.

Again, while we acknowledge that a more “rigid” proposal such as the MetroCentre plan may one day see the light of day (indeed, one impetus for the “small, cheap, feasible” approach is the likelihood that some such plan will), it is also clear that the present climate is not right for such a massive, large-scale redevelopment. Our proposal is a pragmatic alternative for the time in-between: if the developers want to land-bank, perhaps we can persuade them to invest small amounts on projects that might, like the flea market, generate cash flow and, like the graphic arts firm already on-site, create agglomeration economies to support a small business environment, and accelerate the area’s gentrification.

The interventions fall into two categories: short-term projects that will make good use of the site during the “land banking” phase, and more permanent (though still very flexible) projects which can help prepare it to be strategically redeveloped at a future date

1. Clinical Trial: Incubate Healing Cultures With little to loose in the present, the first set of interventions are short term experimental trials to complement existing site dynamics and plant seeds for new ones. There is already a rich network of marginal users taking advantage of the site in informal ways, proving that at Dutchess Mall, cookie cutter suburbia is anything but. The new programs we suggest can make further use of the space and bring life, but like the flea market, are not so spatially rooted that they cannot be displaced one day for a more profitable land use. At present, they are what we believe to be the “highest and best use” for the site.

2. Gene Therapy: Alter the Code Another set of projects is about inscribing new program elements into the DNA of the site. No matter what its future, these long-term preventative measures can help fight future disease and decay. They are value-adding, potentially making the site more attractive to future investors and tenants of all kinds, and can hybridize with existing and new programs. Their forms are cheap and flexible: ultimately disposable but also easy to upgrade, in hopes that they may permanently take root.
TREATMENT REGIMEN

1. Clinical Trial: Incubate Healing Cultures

Hot Box (56-60) The hot boxes are free standing structures built in the service yards of the mall, each containing a conference room/lounge, bathroom/shower and basic office equipment. They would be shared by a wide mix of tenants (ranging from small businesses, especially in the creative fields, to artists) who would rent space in adjoining former mall stores. Added in phases, they could activate one area of the mall at a time, slowly cultivating mini business/cultural districts with a great deal of cooperation and exchange among the tenants. Each area can grow informally through negotiation: since the structure of the mall is fairly light and its spaces generic, a firm that wants more or less space could have it by knocking down and rebuilding walls. We estimate total expenses of 200,000 (phased over several years as the project grows) and potential annual income of 28,000, providing an acceptable cash-on-cash return of 12%. The County EDC should extend Empire Zone tax benefits to the property, providing the owners with further incentive to make this minimal investment.

Adrenaline Shots: Nightclub (51, 52), Beer Garden (54), Summer Stage (53) Several leisure/entertainment programs give a burst of energy in nighttime hours. A nightclub in the back can take advantage of the influx of artists to the region and the “hipness” of the space in its current state of semi-desolation. Here, the long abandoned mall corridor becomes a promenade for patrons to make a grand entry. A beer garden in Jamesway’s former greenhouse can provide an after-work destination for local employees and nearby hotel guests. Jamesway’s porte-cochere becomes a bandshell, adding a focal point for existing special events (flea market, car shows, rallies) and attracting potential new ones. The club and beer garden require private operators to fit out the spaces; Dutchess EDC can facilitate permitting. The Summer Stage requires only the construction of a simple stage, which could be paid for with rental fees from events.

Get the Blood Flowing: Sculpture Garden (55), Car Wash, Recycling Center, Used Car Lot The circulation diagram (46) reveals the extent to which people stop at the mall on their way to another destination. The tenants who remain reveal this too: the dry cleaners, the hot dog truck, the drive-through McDonald’s and bank, the bus stop. Each is characterized by a quick circuit through the site rather than a prolonged stop in it. We propose capitalizing on this trend by bringing more such operations to the mall.

A scruffier, roadside alternative to the high art sculpture gardens at the Dia Center, this Sculpture Garden provides display opportunities for artists, especially those renting space around hot boxes. It would fill the gaps around a new car wash and the existing ATM and McDonald’s, creating a radically mixed use drive-thru zone for art and everyday errands. Near the post office, a drive-up recycling center fulfills an existing community demand. In the parking lot fronting I84’s on-ramp, a highly visible space is reserved for used car sales, where people can display cars themselves for a small fee. An existing nonprofit can oversee the (minimal) administration needed for sculpture exhibits. Artists would assume installation costs themselves in return for the free exposure on the strip. Municipality constructs the recycling center; Car Wash requires a private operator; Used Car Lot could be administered by the flea market staff; the only costs would be in erecting a sign.

2. Gene Therapy: Alter the Code

Day Care (61, 62) A day care center is built into a former movie theater, offering a needed service for existing employees on and near the site. Requires a private operator.

Recreation Commons (63-65) Plugging a Fitness Bubble in the rear service yard of the satellite shopping center allows for a cheap temporary gymnasium. The existing interior is adapted for locker rooms and workout equipment. A landscaped entry in the rear becomes a common area for recreational uses, including the existing golf course and hiking trail. The community has identified a fitness center as a local need; the YMCA is interested in opening a facility.

Cosmetic Surgery: Bus Stop and Monument One of the mall site’s main uses is as a transfer point.; ample parking makes it a great place for departures. An improved bus stop would provide a rest room, shelter and landscaping. Revolutionary War solders’ barracks once occupied the site, and a monument to this history existed here until the mall was built, when it was moved across the highway. The site’s potential as a civic space would be enhanced with the monument’s return. State transportation and private historical society funds are available for these projects.