Wisconsin Communities Deal With Vacant Malls and Retail Spaces

Friday, February 10th, 2023 -- 10:01 AM

(By Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) As one of the Fox Valley's first enclosed shopping malls began to decline in the 2000s, it threatened to leave a major vacancy along the downtown Oshkosh riverfront.

According to Joe Schulz with Wisconsin Public Radio, the former Park Plaza Mall opened in the 1970s, and was once home to major retailers like JCPenney and Montgomery Ward. It was home to more than 70 storefronts in its prime.

But it began to decline as development along the Interstate 41 corridor caused many retailers to relocate in the mid-2000s. In response, a group of local developers came together to revitalize the former mall in the late 2000s, when it was sold to new owners. Today, the big-name retailers are gone, and in their place are a daycare, several call centers, a popular local restaurant and various small businesses.

Had the site not been revitalized, filling the void "would have been a struggle" for the community, according to Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce President Rob Kleman. "That would have left a gaping hole of vacancy," Kleman said. "Over time, if projects aren't developed, they (can) turn into an ongoing blight."

In some ways, the decline of Park Plaza Mall and its transformation into City Center foreshadowed what was to come for the retail industry in the decades ahead. Former retail spaces across Wisconsin have undergone similar transformations after waves of closures over the last decade or so left many communities scrambling to figure out what was next for vacant stores and shopping centers.

An interior portion of Green Bay's East Town Mall has found new life as a manufacturing facility for American Tent. A former Target in Superior has been converted into a manufacturing facility for Ravin Crossbows.

The former site of the Wisconsin Rapids Mall is now a YMCA and Boys & Girls Club. And developers in La Crosse plan to transform a former Kmart site into a neighborhood hangout.

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