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Communities, developers, and real estate asset managers will continue to need to reimagine and reinvent shopping malls into mixed-use redevelopments. The availability of large amounts of land, building space, parking capacity, and typically superior access to roadway connections, provides the physical resources to transform malls from predominantly single-use spaces to a dramatically more varied mix of uses.

IEDC's Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) program recognizes organizational excellence in the areas of internal and external operations, structures, and procedures. This series profiles newly accredited AEDOs, putting some of economic development's highest-performing organizations in the spotlight. This edition: City of Garden Grove (Calif.) Office of Economic Development.

Communities across the United States are taking advantage of targeted financing tools to stimulate growth in the food sector, according to a new report from the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA). Targeted financing is an ideal approach for investing in food systems as it can be focused on a specific geographic area or specific industry cluster, and because it can be used in conjunction with other tools such as bonds, tax credits, and revolving loan funds, the report states. The report provides an overview of four financing tools that can be applied to food systems and includes 18 case studies where they have been used successfully: Tax increment financing can be used for site-specific development projects, such as the ...

Opportunity zones are having an impact in producing the potential for inclusive growth, as demonstrated by some recent projects (ImpactAlpha). Erie, Pa., is aiming to jumpstart its economy with investment in a new downtown culinary arts district located in an Opportunity Zone that is also a federally-designated food desert. The 100,000 square feet of abandoned space will be turned into a food hall and public food market and also feature a commercial kitchen for community use, a culinary business incubator, and market-rate housing. In Los Angeles, an established impact fund manager has acquired 17 properties for affordable housing in South Central, Compton, and Watts. The fund manager claims a 98 percent retention rate among its tenants, ...

What’s the best way to bring people together? Economic developers are pursuing the potential of social spaces centered on food—particularly the emerging food hall concept that’s popping up in cities around the world (JLL Real Views). Much like farmers markets, food halls bring multiple purveyors under a single roof, but offer more complete meals rather than raw ingredients (think fast casual). From Foodhallen in Amsterdam to Pizitz in Birmingham, Alabama, food halls offer a tour of local vendors and promote community, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. A report from the Urban Land Institute explores the intersection of food and real estate (PDF), and how farmers markets, food halls, and other culinary spaces spur ...