Downtown malls still can work if market conditions are right — Stamford Town Center has been successful — but store retail is increasingly challenging. Time Magazine reported in 2017 that a quarter of the country’s 1,100 malls could be closed by 2022. Business Insider recently reported that nearly 6,000 stores have closed thus far this year, which is more than closed in all of 2018. Because of the rapidly changing retail world, Pinnell said, buildings of the future must be flexible, able to easily change uses — say, from retail to residential — as demand warrants.