Comments for As retailers cut back cities confront 'ghostboxes' »
Posted By Eagle_Eye 6 months ago in Business & FinanceBISMARCK, N.D. -Hundreds of anxious shoppers watched as city officials used power saws to cut 2-by-4s during Home Depot Inc.'s ribbon-cutting ceremony for its 102,700-square-foot building center in Bismarck. Less than three years later, the home improvement retailer shuttered the underperforming store, leaving a big orange empty eyesore on the outskirts of town.
The building, sitting derelict and silent on acres of asphalt, is now listed for sale at $10.5 million. But there's been little interest in the near windowless warehouse-like building that occupies a lot the size of a dozen football fields.
For potential tenants "it's a hard pitch because for most uses it seems to be a bit of a tough fit," said Brian Ritter, business development director of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association.
As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, more communities across the country are having to confront not just the eyesore of giant empty stores, but also the loss of jobs and tax revenue that follow.
Many are trying to find creative uses for those near windowless monoliths. In Minnesota, one became a Spam Museum. In Texas, an indoor go-cart track. In Illinois, a church moved into an empty Wal-Mart . The new tenants, however, often generate less revenue for local governments.
And with the recent spate of bankruptcies and store closures, including Circuit City and Linens 'N Things, more abandoned buildings will be added to a struggling commercial real estate market. There are already hundreds of empty "ghostboxes" around the country.
"There is not a landfill on earth able to handle all the big boxes that we have sitting empty," says Julia Christensen, author of the book "Big Box Reuse," who has been studying the trend since 2002.
Some have been transformed into museums, community centers, hospitals or schools. Future tenants, however, can be restricted by the former retail chain.
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chevydog5 months, 4 weeks ago
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It is a problem. In our area, I'm aware of several big box retail building that sat vacant for a few years. One has become a fitness center, and recently one became a discount hardware-type store. Still, we build new buildings rather than use the ones already there. Maybe the best solution is local ordinances that would require demolition within a certain period after official closure. But, as with everything, these could be gamed.
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