Woman Lives In Oldest Mall In America After 48 Abandoned Stores Are Converted Into Homes

I’ve yet to see anything like this: As shopping moves online, the malls that flourished from the 1960s to the 1980s are increasingly closing down. The Arcade Providence, the first shopping mall ever built in the U.S., succumbed to that fate nearly 200 years after it was first built in 1828.

But rather than tear down the building — with its historic arcades, glass skylight, granite steps, and ionic columns — developer Evan Granoff transformed the former Providence, Rhode Island, landmark into a mixed-use building with apartments, which opened its doors to residents in October 2013. In the most recent news about the mall, Granoff announced in January 2020 that units would be up for sale to tenants. This article was updated in April 2021