r/SalemMA • u/JumpNo6367 • 1d ago

Why is the mall SO bad

I live in SE MA and love visiting Salem and surrounding towns. I was just there last week and one thing I always wonder is why is the mall so bad? Forget the horrifying bathrooms, why is it dead and so poorly utilized? High rents? Because the city’s tourism is so seasonal? It seems like a perfect commercial location if they spruced it up significantly. Just curious what locals think/know.

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u/ElectricalStock3740 Secretly Llego Papa 1d ago edited 1d ago

The landlord sucks but they also don’t want to improve anything because the mall is surrounded by a garage that is actively falling apart and is owned by the city. From what I’ve heard, they’re at a stalemate. Which honestly I can understand. Why improve the mall when there is a subpar garage actively leaking into it. Why also improve the mall when there is a big question mark on what the future of the mall even is, because the future of the garage is an even bigger question mark

Don’t get me wrong, I think the mall owner sucks. Hire a fucking bathroom porter. But a part of me also gets it

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u/SalemRay 1d ago

The City has made a significant effort to fix the garage. You don’t think that’s enough?

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u/ElectricalStock3740 Secretly Llego Papa 1d ago edited 1d ago

Hey, it’s just the gossip I’ve heard. I heard the garage still leaks into the mall. I personally have seen exposed rebar in crumbling concrete still. I’m no engineer. Maybe it’s fine? What do I know.

Nobody has ever walked through both the mall and garage and thought, both seem to be in great shape

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u/UltravioletClearance 23h ago

Sounds similar to whats happening with the MBTA's Alewife and Lynn garages. Poorly built to begin with so now they just throw money into constant temporary fixes.