In a small town in upstate New York, the Skyview Park seniors residence sits where the Sears store used to anchor the Irondequoit mall. The store was retrofitted into 73 rental apartments that are connected by a raised pedestrian walkway to a new four-story multi family building with 84 rental units built on the adjacent parking lot.

There are three open-air courtyards, community gardening space and two patios with grilling areas. Residents can access senior programming at the Irondequoit Community Center, a 40,000-square-foot community centre built at the site, via the former Sears building.

“As developers, we try to address housing affordability, neighborhood blight, community growth, and sustainability,” says Amy Casciani, who co-led the Skyview Park development. “Sometimes, to accomplish our goals, we need to look ‘outside the box.’ In our ever-changing economic environment, we should be willing to utilize creative, adaptive re-use as one measure to address issues in our communities,” she added.