Westdale Mall’s demolition due to deterioration, need for change

When the demolition of Westdale Mall begins later this spring, it will become part of a national trend of redeveloping hundreds of formerly vibrant retail centers.

Demolition begins on the former Montgomery Ward building at Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, January 16, 2014. (Stephen Mally/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)

Green Street Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif., has forecast that 10 percent of the nations 1,000 enclosed malls will fail by 2022. Many will be partially or totally demolished, converted to uses with significantly less retail.

Another report from CoStar Group of Washington, D.C., shows more than 200 malls with over 250,000 square feet have vacancy rates of 35 percent or higher. Age also appears to be a contributing factor as 86.5 percent were built before 2000.

Westdales deteriorating physical condition and the need to create a radically different mixed-use destination are cited as reasons for tearing down the majority of the 35-year-old mall by Frew Development Group of Denver, Colo., which is overseeing a $90 million redevelopment of the property.

During a recent tour of the central portion of Westdale, buckets filling with water from a leaking roof and skylights were abundant. A service corridor that the public never sees showed ample evidence of structural settling and damage to the buildings infrastructure.

The damage to the mall has resulted from decades of neglect, said John Frew, president of Frew Development Group. The 10-year roof that was installed 20 years ago could be replaced, but the concerns we have are water penetration to the electrical boxes and conduit, much of it running under the mall.

Chad Soukup Westdale operations manager points to where measurements were taken on a concrete outer wall that is settling at Westdale Mall in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)

The front wall of the mall was not built on compacted soil and it has settled more than six inches. That is putting stress on pipes passing through the wall, causing horizontal cracks to form.

You finally have to ask yourself Do we put more lipstick on the pig, or do we start from scratch?

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Westdale Mall’s demolition due to deterioration, need for change