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New-Vegetable-1274 t1_iy1thh8 wrote

Reply to comment by NovelNo87 in Why do people love the Denholm building so much? by your_city_councilor

Agreed, between the internet and the pandemic, the way people shop has changed forever. Nation wide, thousands of malls have closed and the big department stores that have survived are more curiosities than prosperous retailers. Among them the most famous are more tourist attractions now. The internet does lack the hands on aspects of shopping and there are still products people prefer to in person shop for. I don't know if this change is good or bad there's a lot of vacant real estate that is mostly rotting. I wonder how many on Reddit would rent housing in a defunct mall that offered amenities like security staff, parking, a gym, some sort of storage, a convenience store or small grocery, indoor and outdoor common spaces, a dog park and maybe even a bar.

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AceOfTheSwords t1_iy3ltt6 wrote

Why settle for a small grocery? People still use physical grocery stores, and that building is one of the few downtown that can support a full size one. Penalizing people who live downtown by forcing them to either endure the inevitable higher prices and limited selection of small groceries or cling to their personal vehicles as they fight over insufficient downtown parking so they can get to a "real" grocery isn't right. Whether the original building is kept or a new one built, this should be heavily considered.

If it's feasible to convert the upper levels to residences, sure, but as you point out the building has layout issues for that. If movie theaters weren't so dead (especially in pandemic world), I'd say a small theater with a few screens could go there since the city doesn't have one at all anymore, but unless they see some sort of post-pandemic recovery I don't see that being successful either. So I'm not really sure what the best idea would be for the upper levels. Maybe a new building is needed after all.

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New-Vegetable-1274 t1_iy43ova wrote

I think you're on to something. Why not use a building to solve some of the downtown community's problems. If the Denholm building cannot be converted somehow maybe it should be demolished but I fear it would end up as an undeveloped eyesore.

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