Urban Decay

[dmccall]

Entropy is fascinating. That's why I'm so drawn in by urban decay.

I just found a site that has a couple of really interesting real estate pieces that are in shambles:

* Dixie Square Mall (Chicago) - filming site for chase at the beginning of "The Blues Brothers" (abandoned for 25 years now - creepy - looks like it was really similar to University Mall) map it

*Hartford Civic Center Mall - This is apparently the adjacent mall to the Canes' old arena.

[bdp]

aww thats sad... i grew up in CT going to Whalers games... it is funny they ended up down here too.

[yfreemark]

Interestingly, the Hartford Civic Center is undergoing a renovation right now, to include a massive new residential tower (I think the largest between New York and Boston):

http://www.cceda.state.ct.us/civiccenter/index.htm

[monsoon]

I would recommend a trip to Eastland Mall in Charlotte. When it opened in 1975, it was NC's newest and most innovated mall with the integrated ice skating rink and after 1979, was also the states largest. (for a while) However flash forward to 2006 and the mall is at the beginning phases to becoming abandoned. The demograhics around the mall have changed to the point that traditional mall stores that used to be located there are moving out, its plagued with crime which drives away more people, and it is not being maintained so it looks rundown.

It's a fascinating study of the decline of a once popular area in modern times. It should be noted that much of this is happening because as other areas in Charlotte near downtown become gentrified they also become much more expensive. Thus the former residents of these areas are forced out to the 1970s types of neighborhoods that surround Eastland which mostly the middle class has abandoned. Someone will write a book about this one day.