Why add affordable housing to the suburban shopping mall when a developer and community can add hundreds of luxury apartments to the mall? Such a plan is under discussion in Skokie, Illinois:

The Skokie Village Board gave tentative  approval at its Oct. 8 meeting for developers to build hundreds of luxury apartments across three buildings at the upscale Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center.

The first phase of construction would create 425 apartments between two mixed-use buildings, one five stories tall and one seven stories tall. The second construction phase would be for an additional seven-story building that could be used for more apartments or a hotel, said Stephen Fluhr, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s senior vice president of development…

The additions to the mall were met with criticism by an affordable housing group, which blasted the Village Board for approving plans they saw as having too few affordable apartments.

The first phase would put two buildings in the area of the former Bloomingdale’s retail space in the northwest part of the mall, south of Old Orchard Road and east of Lavergne Avenue.  The developers’ intention is to create a new neighborhood complete with parks, restaurants and spaces for concerts and farmers markets, according to Fluhr. The development is a partnership with the mall’s owner URW and Focus, a development group that is also in the process of building apartments near malls in Vernon Hills and Aurora.

Many malls would like to add housing to their property (examples from the Chicago suburbs to southern California): it makes use of vacant shopping space and provides local residents who might visit stores, restaurants, and entertainment options at the mall.

I would also guess many mall and community would like to add luxury apartments. These apartments will attract certain kinds of residents, those with resources to spend more in the community and contribute to a certain status. Luxury apartments at malls would go along with the idea that only the wealthiest malls will survive.

But, as communities consider affordable housing, why not include affordable housing as part of redeveloped housing at the mall? Many suburbs have limited greenfield development options so redevelopment provides an opportunity for affordable housing. Or affordable housing could provide housing for people working at the mall or working near the mall as shopping malls tend to be close to all sorts of businesses and jobs.

The bigger issue at hand is likely this: how many suburbs are truly willing to add affordable housing? And if they say they want to add such housing or have local regulations that require it, where will they allow it be located?