Now, it’s the malls that need help from the city.

After years of attention and more than $100 million in taxpayer-funded support for downtown London, city hall is turning its focus to suburban shopping centres.

Masonville Place in north London is asking the city for a rezoning to allow the creation of what a city staff report calls a “contemporary multi-purpose entertainment facility” on the upper floor of the former Target store. The store closed in 2015 when the American retailer pulled out of Canada.

The owner and operator of the business that would occupy about 44,000 square feet isn’t identified, but it will be similar to the Palasad, which has bowling, pool and arcade games at its two London locations.

Activities at the facility in Masonville would include virtual reality and motion-simulator experiences and amusement rides, mechanical-bull riding, live music, dancing, disc jockeys and karaoke, the report says.

Cadillac Fairview and Masonville Place staff could not be reached for comment. A city bylaw limits entertainment use at malls to 10 per cent of the floor plate, in order to focus entertainment use downtown.

The rezoning application that will come before city council’s planning and environment committee Monday would increase the entertainment floor plate at Masonville to 16 per cent.

“The zoning bylaw limited entertainment to 10 per cent to ensure downtown remains the heart of entertainment,” said Michael Tomazincic, a manager in the city’s planning division. “But malls reinvent themselves to compete with big-box stores, and part of that is making it a destination place for something other than shopping.”

Though downtown remains a priority, the city must acknowledge that Masonville Place and other malls face challenges, he said.

“This mall in the last two years has lost two anchors (Target and Sears), and this is a good re-use of an existing building,” Tomazincic wsaid. “It will help the mall remain competitive and remain a focal point for the city and region.”

A staff report outlines the challenges facing shopping malls.

“About 15 per cent of malls will fail or will be converted into non-retail space within the next 10 years . . . and within 15 to 20 years as many as half of America’s shopping malls will fail,” due largely to changing shopping habits as more people shop online and at power centres, such as in Hyde Park in London.

The report also paints a rosy picture of the core, saying the assessed value of properties increased to $1.1 billion in 2014 from $654 million in 2004.

About 2,000 new residential units have been built downtown and more than 1,000 building permits issued since 2001, the report said.

Masonville has added tenants since Sears and Target left, including a Disney store, Spanish retailer Zara and a Keg restaurant.

Janette MacDonald, director of Downtown London, representing businesses in the core, sais she’s not concerned about the support for Masonville.

“We are all about downtown but the city has an entire city to think of. Cadillac Fairview has invested $77 million in London, God bless them.”

Ken Hardy, professor emeritus at the Richard Ivey school of business at Western University, said the move to increase Masonville’s entertainment space wouldn’t hurt downtown but he believes malls don’t need help.

“I question the premise. Masonville lost anchors but they are filling up nicely. It does not look like it needs help to me. If anything needs help, it is still the downtown.”

ndebebono@postmedia.com

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Masonville Place

Built: 1985

Tenants: About 140 stores and services

Owner: Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd., which has $79 billion in North American assets including 71 properties across Canada.

Investments: Company has put more than $77 million into the mall in recent years.