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Amazon Converting Vacant Malls

The e-commerce retailer is repurposing the properties as distribution centers

Published

3 years ago

April 6, 2021

E-commerce behemoth Amazon (Seattle) has been purchasing unoccupied shopping malls across the U.S. and turning them into distribution centers, reports NBC News.

“The reality is that the cash flow at these lower-quality malls is declining rapidly,” said Vince Tibone, retail and industrial analyst at real estate analytics company Green Street. “You have to decide, ‘Do I want to do something myself to invest a lot of money to transform this dead retail into thriving retail or put up offices?’ Selling a dead mall as land is a more attractive option.”

Last month, Amazon converted a Baton Rouge mall into a 3.4-million-square-foot distribution center and another in Knoxville, Tenn., into a 220,000-square-foot center. Last year, Amazon bought and converted a Worcester, Mass., property into a 121,000-square-foot distribution center.

Jennifer Acevedo

Jennifer Acevedo is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of VMSD magazine.

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