ABSTRACT
The United States experienced tremendous growth in the mid-20th century. That growth transformed the city centers and significantly expanded the suburban landscape. Suburban living, and the automobile as the predominant mode of transportation, fostered the proliferation of surface parking lots around suburban shopping malls. The redevelopment of the automobile-oriented 20th-century sites must occur within the framework of a new set of legal constraints. Adaptive reuse often involves zoning changes to a property. The changes to the zoning code affect not only new buildings but existing buildings as well. Adaptive reuse of historic structures results in the change of use of a building from its historic use to that of a current use or occupancy. The size and scale of the mall, coupled with the increase in zoning and land regulations that limit the parking lot and reduce the automobile focus of suburban and urban landscapes, requires the exercise of moderation in negotiation.
