Urban Sprawl at its worst

This is going on all over the country. I guess banks must be loaning lots of money to commercial developers while the threat of residential homeownership looms. I too am amazed driving through Charlotte, NC. After living here 7 years, I sometimes feel like a tourist because things have so rapidly changed with cookie-cutter mega malls. There is current controversy regarding Eastland & Freedom Malls in Charlotte. Amazingly, they are both located in "Urban areas" now regarded as PRIME real estate based on proximity to the Uptown area. Knock them down and put in tenants that will cater to the "general" market and not the current "urban population" they currently serve. The next step, over-priced condos to service tired surburban commuters...One-stop live, work, shop...Gas prices can affect city planning I guess...

The entire metro Atlanta area is being destroyed by unnecessary land development. I live in the Suwanee area, where offices and homes are being built at a breakneck pace, only to remain empty and unused for years. Meanwhile, more and more wooded lots are continually being razed for more development. Office parks, shopping centers, townhomes, apartments, condos, restaurants, the list goes on and on. Last year, they ripped out a forest across from Dillard's BBQ to build a "park" in Suwanee - right in front of some new town homes and stores that are still empty today. The "park" is nothing more than a field of concrete that nobody uses. This greedy land grab is stealing valuable habitat from what is left of Georgia's wildlife. No wonder I see so many deer beside the road on the way to work every morning. Two weeks ago I spotted a family of deer: a buck, a doe, and some babies, wandering down L'ville-Suwanee road during rush hour traffic. They looked very disoriented and frightene

Many people are under the impression that newer must be better. A new shopping center will attract people simply for the newness.

Yea, its the same by me in Northern Wisconsin. When I was younger there used to be a farm and a huge orchard at the end of my road, now its houses, and big companies along the highway that at one time used to be beautiful countryside. Its sad around here, seems as if everyday I see a new building, hell even in the dead of winter they are out building more crap ruining the landscape!!

they are doing the same thing in Augusta Ga. We have an entire MALL.....huge actual mall..................abandoned. but boy can they build up crap all over the city. It's unreal. and dispite what people say about the south, it is very racially divided. it is rediculous. i see it every day. deny it or blame it on something else if you must, but it's the truth, and i think it's why you see the shift in neighborhoods. it could be why thier is the waste of space, but we're going to learn the hard way one of these days. and yes, i am a white transplant to the south from the north, and i don't care what nationality my neighbors are. we all work hard, but i guess it's just not seen that way.

Ma'am, I think its more the capitalistic sprawl of America that motivates the roots of shopping centers to spread in areas unnecessary. Perhaps the city council knows something you or we don't about whats going on.Sometimes its political motivation, or ingratiation, that brings about these superfluous plazas/malls to appear on top of one another. But, much like the Tower of Babel, where one builds and builds to find a greater meaning to oneself( without considering the repercussions for those in its wake)businesses are in greater control than we think. They own the land we walk on( though I doubt you'd hear about this modern day Native American/Early Pilgrim land swap on the local news) and with this they can build whatever it is they want. Our local government is so entrenched in the pockets of big business, its almost shocking why most structures are built. It saddens me when money is wasted on repetitive means, especially across the stretches of green and un-metropolistic earth.

I used to live in Chester County, PA.,which less than 20 years ago, was known for its beautiful open space. The developers are quickly destroying it, and the supervisors in the respective townships never do anything to stop them.

wow! L Shepard! I have lived in other places that have similar problems, but this area seems to best at building on GP

BARB, they, the builders keep building new plazas where there obviously aren't enough stores able or willing to pay the rents. Shopping in still available just a few miles away.

I used to live in Duluth, and shop mostly in Lawrenceville, and I think the problem is the insane rise in property values in Lawrenceville in the past few years. A lot of stores have had to pull out and move farther north to get retail spaces that are affordable. The retail spaces in that Lawreceville shopping area are really exhorbitant now, so many of the stores can't survive the increases. But, since the rents are so high, more people are wanting to build retail spaces there to collect the high rents.

Wow- when I read the title, I though that must be Atlanta sprawl. I can't believe I was right.

Ads by Google thinks you are talking about Keith Urban and his recent admittance to rehab. I guess maybe its cheaper to build a new one rather than renovate an old one. When you say dead, you mean people don't go there or that there are no active shops in there? What's the economy of the area like right now? What other shopping is available locally?