Amazon has repurposed 25 struggling malls into distribution centers

As the total amount of operating malls decrease in the U.S. below the magical 1,000 mark, did you know that Amazon has already repurposed 25 struggling malls into distribution centers? Twenty-five!!!

Amazon acquired malls in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Knoxville, Tennessee; Cleveland, Ohio and Worcester, Massachusetts, to convert them into fulfillment centers.  

Between 2016 and 2019, Amazon repurposed around 25 malls, but it also considered turning former declining department store locations into distribution hubs. The demand for data centers from Amazon's cloud business and Amazon Web Services (AWS) as well as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Equinix, Digital Realty, CyrusOne, Vertiv Holdings Co. and Oracle Cloud are likely to consider dying malls as target real estate for data center operations. 

As many malls face declining cash flow, loan maturities and closures, selling the potentially valuable real estate as well-located land in commercial districts for redevelopment has become an appealing option.

Read more: Why Amazon and Walmart Suddenly Like Malls (PYMNTS)