Cracking Open The Mall

Mr Stamford's recent compilation of Stamford's unused plots put me back in the city planning mindset. While the undeveloped plots are a detriment to the downtown, at least they are blank slates that the city can look to shape to the most beneficial use as various proposals are put forth. The worst problems are those we are already stuck with that don't compliment the kind of livable, walkable modern downtown the CTW has been trying to create. As Mr Stamford points out, among the worst offenders is the Mall. Just the fact that the Mall is called "Stamford Town Center" illustrates it's existence as some outdated concept of what a downtown should be. The mall literally and figuratively replaced Stamford's Main St.

In the past five years, even the mall itself recognizes it is ill suited for a downtown and has made some corrective measures.

One of the three retail anchors, JCPenny was ripped down and replaced with a street plaza filled with restaurants and the state's largest Barnes & Noble going from this:


To this:


Prior to that even, the complex replaced the sunken ice rink and restaurant with street grade retail and a new entrance. It hasn't caught on as well as the revamped south facing as half of it is still sitting empty. Still a more street friendly improvement on a heavily walked corner is the right direction and the economy should catch up to the spot eventually.

Everyone involved has been quick to pat themselves on the back for the new southern "pedestrian friendly entrance" plaza. While in theory that may be the case, in reality the surrounding city isn't currently oriented to pedestrians at all on this facing of the complex. Its surrounded by office tower behemoths and the hole. I've seen people trickle in on foot, but it seems like more a fancy place to drive in. I'm not saying it was a mistake, its a first step in making Tresser something other than a mini-highway. Maybe if the hole turned into something it would be a nice compliant. The real opportunities to open the mall to the street lie to the North with Macy's and the West with Saks Five Ave. Both spots stand as walls at each of the city's existing major pedestrian cores, Macy's to Beford, Sac's to Columbus Park.

While on a national level Macy's has had some problems, I don't know if that has trickled down to this local outpost so a rip down doesn't seem likely. At the very least an aesthetic change should be pursued like replacement of the walls with windows and creation of a new, inviting entrance. The city has approached them with this in the past but it hasn't seemed to help. At the very least the store should consider it's outward appearance as better branding than the concrete shoebox it is now.

The real opportunity though is the Saks that sits atop an under utilized Veteran's Park. The adjacent ramp to the garage eliminates the need to consider auto access so this whole corner offers the opportunity to rework into a pedestrian plaza that bleeds into the park. The park becomes more than a glorified bus stop, the mall gets to replicate the success it has seen around the corner, the surrounding retail around the mall gets a bump from the influx of people, and the city gets another shot at Main St.