Lafayette Town Cental Mall

[Huggybear]

I don't think the demolished building was particularly good, but it really looks like it changed the nature of that spot. With the building there's a pedestrian plaza lined with stores, and without it it's a generic strip mall [[with nicer architecture, but still a strip mall)

With all due respect, this is the kind of thing I think you see from the other side of a computer screen - not from being there. It was always a strip mall [[it was, after all, designed in the 50s), and the building in question was just an outlot.

That 2-story building, at its end stage, was a bit nasty [[macadam cement panel does not age well). But the bigger issue was that the building created two narrow and very poorly lit "alleys," one the ran north and south along the strip as it exists today and another that ran east and west along the strip. Right behind that 2-story building, where Club Omni is now, was an abandoned retail building [[looked like size of a supermarket). Most people would try not to be caught in a place like that after dark, and I'm sure that [[along with the fact that there was too much space in the mall) played into the decision to eliminate the building.

I know there's a rabid enthusiasm for multistory buildings, but this one, placed where it was placed, was an eyesore and a safety hazard.

[royce]

I agree with Huggybear. The building created a safety issue because it blocked one's view from Lafayette and vice versa. It also prevented potential stores in that location from being noticed by drivers driving along Lafayette. If you didn't already know what was there, you'd miss it driving by. It was a good decision to tear the building down.

[kraig]

The redevelopment plan turned out to be a gross miscalculation by the owner of the strip. A lot of viable businesses were shut down or moved to other locations. By the time some of those businesses had made their way back to the strip, the customer base was no longer there.

Right now, that location is dead. Hopefully, things will pick up in the future.

[stasu1213]

If the new owner keep raising the rent for each tenants he is not going to attract anyone in that mall