NEW YORK CITY—Mark Twain once commented that reports of his death are premature and the same can be said of shopping malls in the US. The mall, which is an American post World War Two phenomenon, has been moribund in this millennium with construction falling from 25 million gross square feet in 2001 to less than four million gross square feet annually for the last few years. This reduction is less a sign of the demise of malls, than a transition and part of a metamorphosis into what could be called the Mall Plus.

Certainly, changing demographics, the rebirth of many of our urban areas after years of blight, the birth and growth of televised shopping shows, internet shopping, and the age and deterioration of many malls as well as the concern about crime and terrorism, and, of course, major recessions in 2002-2003 and again 2008-2011 have affected American's shopping habits. However, that only means the industry has to change to survive. We are early in the transition to Malls Plus, but there are actual signs of a recovery. It is true that only eight new malls have been built in the United States since 2008, but that ignores the virtual collapse of the financial markets in 2008 and the five to ten years it takes to plan, obtain land and permits, build a mall and finally the need to line up tenants to occupy the retail spaces.

From 2007, when the subprime collapse began to shake people's confidence, to the fall of Lehman, Fannie, Freddie, Bear Sterns, General Motors, Chrysler, among others, lenders (the key players in the development of shopping malls) kept their powder dry – mostly making loans on other, less risky areas of the economy. Now, with the resurgence of the economy, that is going to change. Subtly Taubman, General Growth Properties, and Starwood as well as other important players are beginning to raise funds and are looking for areas that are ripe for development or redevelopment. True many of the sites are in the south and west, but the movement is starting to go north and east, where deals can be found. The optimism is based on the growth of the American population; unlike most of the developed world, only the United States has a rising population, a comparatively robust economy with relatively low inflation, safety, and stability. Another reason for the likely resurgence of shopping malls in America is the concept of Malls Plus, which means that rather than a mall being an isolated shopping venue, more and more development is of the Town Center variety with shopping, an event area, perhaps movie theatres (which used to be anathema to mall developers), hotels, offices, and mini amusement parks. The mall is now an entertainment venue and it will continue to be a way for families to do different activities together, and an alternative to on-line shopping, which is very lonely and entails a great deal of returns of merchandise that either does not fit , does not look right, or does not function as explained. As the economy continues to grow, we will see a continuation of old properties being purchased at below replacement prices and replaced with new, state-of-the-art Malls Plus like the ones Taubman and GGP are planning.