How Much Longer Can Shopping Malls Survive?

There are dead malls, and then there is Dixie Square. The suburban Chicago mall made famous by The Blues Brothers--who destroyed it on-screen in a spectacular car chase--had already closed by the time the film was shot in 1979. It's just sat there ever since, not worth the cost of tearing it down. By now, trees sprout from the parking lot and the ceilings have turned to mush. Every attempt to redevelop the site--into a showroom for kitchen implements or senior housing--has fallen through...