Providence, Rhode Island’s The Arcade was 188 years old when it ended its run as America’s oldest shopping mall. Instead of letting the classical Greek structure (surprisingly beautiful for a mall) fall into disarray, developers turned it into 48 micro-apartments.
“It’s cool to be part of such a historic building and knowing that every single one of these units used to be a shop of some kind,” resident Amy Henion told CNBC.
On the bottom floor, there are offices and retail spaces that both offer built-in amenities for residents and boost the small business economy.
“I get my hair cut in the salon downstairs, and there’s little lunch spots, so you don’t even have to leave the building,” Henion said. “There’s a bookstore downstairs and they’ll do author talks in the private lounge area.”…