There’s not a shortage of ugly shopping centers that could be redeemed in something a little bit better for your community. This is a great example of the potential of some of those shopping centers. Old, beautiful buildings, are obviously worthy of restoration. But the greenest most environmentally sustainable building is the one that’s already there. Even the ugly ones! Shout out to @monteandersonduncanville of @optionsrealestate_ for showing me your work! #incrementaldevelopment #tx #texas #duncanville #urbanism #neighborhoodevlolution

It doesn't matter where you are in America, you're probably nearby a place that looks like this. An old, dying strip mall that is struggling to be both a cultural or economic asset to your city. And I want to talk about three things you could do to actually flip that. Hey, JonJon the Happy Urbanist here for Neighborhood Evolution, and welcome to Wheatland Plaza. Now despite what I said at the beginning of the video, Wheatland Plaza actually is doing good things right now. It's got this new daycare coming in, it's got a 95% occupancy rate of the business spaces that are completed, and some even bigger plans that I'm going to share here in a second. So Monty Anderson of Options Real Estate, and one of the founding members of Neighborhood Evolution, has caught a vision for places like these, which at one point during this process had a 72% vacancy rate. So let me show you what they're doing with this space, and what they're going to be doing with this space. The first thing they had to do is break it down into smaller units. A lot of places like this had overbuilt, cavernous big box spaces that were meant for franchises, that when small businesses need a place they have a hard time filling up. And so they started converting these into smaller units. A 20,000 foot store could now become rooms for a hotel, space for a restaurant, they've even snuck in a few apartments in here. By breaking these up into smaller units, they were both able to offer spaces at smaller monthly rates to the business owners, but managed to get more price per square foot for them as an investor. The second aspect of this is that it's owner-occupied. They built this cool collaborative workspace, but also made it their main office. Meaning, specifically for that unit, they didn't have to turn a profit right away, because it was also serving the purpose of being the home base for the company. And when you walk inside, you won't believe that this used to be a big box store. The natural tones of the wood, the increased natural light, all feel like a comfortable, cozy place to work. And it's another example of how they further broke things up. It's full of small little offices that companies, especially ones just getting started, can rent at an affordable rate. It's a co-working space with one of the cheapest rates I've ever seen, especially in the Dallas area, at 80 bucks a month, with coffee and beer on tap. But more than that, it's become a free third place, with students who hang out here in the morning before they go to school, a place where city officials, like city counselors, actually hold meetings and show up and drink coffee. So, you know, a cultural asset to the community. But one of the reasons they can do this is because it is owner-occupied. It's hard as an investor to get to know your neighbors and offer them free spots if you're doing this to an investment that's 2,000 miles away. Likewise, you would have to charge a much higher rate, especially at the start. A place like this didn't have some other strong utility, like your main office. But the third thing that's going to totally turn this around, and it's the thing I'm most excited about, is that they're going to be adding housing right here in the middle of this parking lot. You see, something caught Monty's eye that most people would overlook. It wasn't just a strip mall that connected to a busy street. It actually had connectivity to a traditional neighborhood behind it. And he started thinking about some of the things we've lost with our car-oriented development. Started to think, what would this look like if this had more of a look and feel of a town square? So where there's crumbling asphalt now, there's actually going to be 16 units of housing, some of which are Habitat for Humanity housing, to offer something more attainable to regular people. And this street, which comes out of this neighborhood, instead of just cutting through a parking lot, it's going to have more of a look and feel of a neighborhood itself. But the absolute kicker about all this, like what makes this so rich to me, is that the appraised value of this property, when it started, was $3 million. But when they complete the townhomes, it's going to be worth upwards of $25 million. And for all intents and purposes, this is going to be a town square. That is going to be a municipal building. I already told you about the CoLab Business Center, childcare, gym, school supply, laundry, places that serve the community. Many of these people who were here before the owner came in, paid more in rent, but got less in return. It's because they broke down the spaces into smaller units. By being owner-occupied, they got to understand and know the community better, but also make the numbers work, because it was their office. And then three, adding housing. You're going to catch me back in Dallas whenever this is completed, because something like this should be done in most failing strip malls across America. But it'll take a shift in the imagination and a shift of the priorities of the local municipalities and what type of people they want to empower to shape the city. This is what neighborhood evolution is all about.