General Business Updates and News

[ac3r]

Major blow to market square. 

Someone suggested a phased redevelopment.  Does anyone now if something like that would even be possible given the structure of the building?

I expect you could tear down the parking garage without impacting the structural integrity of the rest, and build a tower that would work (architecturally) with the remaining building. Maybe even some part along Scott St, to use maybe 40% of the existing footprint for a new building. No, it will never be a viable shopping mall again, but it could certainly be a viable mixed-use space with much higher density.

However, the property owner, EuroPro, is an office space management/rental company, not a developer, and so far they have not done any major development projects, as far as I am aware. Would they want to tackle something this big?

It's definitely possible. The parking garage is structurally quite separate from the rest of the building. There has not been any need for that much parking ever since the mall and market ceased operating, so they could certainly tear it down and redevelop that at some point if there was a wish to do so. But as you mention, EuroPro is not a developer.

I'd support demolishing the parking garage and rebuilding something there. But to get rid of the entire thing makes no sense and it would never happen anyway - at least for a long, long time. EuroPro just dumped a ton of money into redeveloping the interior of the complex as well as the office tower across the street. A college campus just opened up and there is a lot of perfectly good office space to lease. Financially, it just wouldn't make any sense. There is also the environmental cost involved in demolishing and rebuilding something so immense. The argument made in this thread just seems to be that it's subjectively ugly and so some glass towers would be preferable.