[photo by Keegan Frank]
Lexington’s Dead Malls
Dead Malls are not new, and they’re not unique to Lexington.
“Best Use for Lexington Mall” has been a category in the Best of Lex Readers’ Poll for almost a decade. (The Best of Lex issue will be on stands September 17.)
Readers eventually began to complain, and ask when we were going to ditch the category.
The answer is: when someone figures out how to use Lexington Mall successfully. Next year, “Best Use for Turfland Mall” will probably be added.
As always, Readers have imaginative ideas (the Farmers Market has needed a year-round indoor home for years, and that’s always been a popular contender; LFUCG needs a new city hall, and that comes up too).
But to date, nobody’s had a plan.
Who might?
Michael Speaks, dean of UK’s College of Design, recently addressed LFUCG and talked about the imaginative work of the Henderson Project. David Mohney has stepped off the Lexington Downtown Development Authority’s Board and onto its staff part-time. And Steve Austin’s name was brought up at LFUCG for a Dead Malls study he’s conducting with students.
The New York Times has addressed this topic with its readers
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/101-uses-for-a-deserted-mall/
And the website http://www.deadmalls.com blogs about the topic regularly.
Now Readers, what’s the Plan?
