Kimberly Amplement is a Senior Planner at the Town of Amherst, NY, and Lucie Laurian is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Buffalo, NY.
The term “retrofit” typically refers to upgrading or changing the use of buildings that do not live up to their full potential or meet current needs, e.g., converting office and industrial structures to residential uses. The retrofit process ideally preserves historic or otherwise meaningful buildings, such as libraries, schools, churches, abandoned factories, or malls, and advances sustainability and carbon neutrality goals by preserving embodied energy, improving energy efficiency, and/or adding onsite renewable energy production.
Here, we focus on retrofitting large greyfield sites and compare two examples: a shopping mall in Amherst, NY and a former rail freight station in Paris, France. While both involve demolitions and new construction, we propose that they are good urban retrofit models because they reuse and improve urban land, conserve and upgrade existing infrastructure, support sustainability goals by promoting infill development and energy upgrades, and add housing and other much needed land uses.
From a dead mall to a mixed-use district in Amherst, NY
The Boulevard Mall in the Town of Amherst (Buffalo’s most populous first-ring suburb) is a 56 acre (22.7 ha) site at the western edge of town, close to the University at Buffalo North Campus and the Canadian border. It is surrounded by a highly successful commercial open air “power” shopping center, smaller commercial properties, Niagara Falls Boulevard (a major inter-county arterial), a popular regional grocery store, and established residential neighborhoods.
The mall opened in 1962 as the first indoor shopping center in the Buffalo region and soon became the focal point of a thriving commercial corridor. As with other US malls, changing demographics and shopping habits and the COVID-19 pandemic challenged local businesses. Continuously declining in value, the Mall was auctioned off and bought by a private developer for $24 million in 2019. The majority of stores at the Mall left progressively and the building will sit vacant as of spring 2026. A proposed light rail extension that would connect downtown Buffalo and the University at Buffalo’s three campuses traverses the site and has helped spur interest in redevelopment. The new owner, Douglas Development, realized the site potential and initiated conversations with the Town.
The Town envisioned a walkable street network, public open space, mixed-use, transit-oriented, high-density development serving the community and greater region. The Town is proactively moving this vision forward: between 2019 and 2022, the Town adopted new mixed-use zoning districts, rezoned the Mall property to enable a higher density mixed-use development, created an Action Plan for the broader area (the “Boulevard Central District”), created an Urban Renewal Agency, Plan and Area which includes the Mall site. The Town is also utilizing eminent domain tools to take the Mall (and a few other adjacent properties) for fair market value to be utilized for a greater public good: to create a desired “live, work, play” place.
Boulevard Mall: aerial view, inside
During eminent domain proceedings, an owner of smaller portions of the Mall site, Benderson Development, expressed interest in purchasing the entire site from Douglas Development and recently bought the property for $15 million in 2026. Benderson, a well-known local developer who constructs primarily one-story commercial buildings and owns the larger “power center” to the north of the Mall, will likely continue to focus on commercial redevelopment. Working with the new owners, the Town created an Urban Renewal Area Overlay Zoning District, now adopted as part of the Town’s Zoning Code, which relaxes some of the provisions within the mixed-use zoning districts while ensuring that the developer adheres to key Town development goals and objectives.
In late 2025, the Town, Amherst Industrial Development Agency (AIDA), Amherst Development Corporation (ADC), and Benderson entered into a Funding, Disposition and Redevelopment Transfer Agreement for the property. The Town will move forward with eminent domain proceedings to break leases and enable redevelopment. The ADC will briefly hold the property and convey it to Benderson. In return, Benderson will give back approximately 14 acres on the eastern portion of the site to the Town. The agreement also includes stipulations regarding demolition and infrastructure construction, including roadways. For the acreage retained by the Town, a Request for Proposals (RFP) will be issued calling for higher density, mixed-housing development of approximately 500-700 units. The property will then be sold to the developer selected through the RFP process to move redevelopment forward.
From a large railyard to an eco-district in Paris
Another large urban site, the Clichy-Batignole site in Paris’ northern 17th district (between Pont Cardinet and Porte de Clichy Metro/RER stops) was a former freight rail station, built in 1844 and in decline since the 1970s. Its redevelopment zone designation (Zone d’Aménagement Concerté) gave the city urban renewal powers over the site. Planning for a new ecodistrict started in 2002, with construction spanning 2014-2024. The new 38 story Renzo Piano-designed Paris Tribunal sits at the north of the site. The district covers 54 hectares (133 acres) and is organized around the 10 hectare (24.7 acres) Martin Luther King Park which opened in 2007 with playgrounds, a skatepark, sports equipment, and a large pond. The district includes 3,400 housing units (about half income-restricted and managed by public and quasi-public housing providers), 140,000 m2 of office space, 31,000 m2 of retail and service space with a shopping center near the metro stop, and 38,000m2 for public services. Buildings were designed by different architecture firms with distinct visual identities, and a small original building was preserved as a reminder of the history of the site. The neighborhood as a whole feels very green, calm, and “high end” contemporary.
The district aims for carbon neutrality and features low-energy buildings (50 kWh/ m2/ year), green roofs, underground pneumatic waste collection, deep geothermal energy from the Albien aquifer (25-28°C) that meets 83% of the site’s hot water and heating needs, and 35,000m2 solar panels that cover about 40% of the site’s electricity needs. The park is home to about 500 different plant species, infiltrates about half of the stormwater onsite, and appears to host a reasonably rich ecosystem (I observed ducks, herons, and frogs around the pond). It received a formal eco-district designation and multiple awards.
Site redevelopment costs added up to about 1.6 billion euros: €630m for land acquisition, €270m for the reconstruction of rail infrastructure, €330m for studies, ground remediation and preparation, and €401m for equipment. The redevelopment was led by the city and managed by two publicly-controlled planning authorities. The Société d’Economie Mixte d’Aménagement de la Ville de Paris (SEMAVIP) was founded in 1985 to manage major urban development projects (the municipality controlled 51% of its capital in 1995 and 77% in 2008). SEMAVIP led the project for the Clichy-Batignoles site, and later managed its renewable energies program. Once the project included the new Paris Tribunal, it was transferred to the Société Publique Locale d’Aménagement (SPLA) Paris Batignolles Aménagement, entirely publicly controlled. Public entities thus controlled the redevelopment of the site, set out RFPs and contracted out design and construction to private architecture firms.
Clichy Batignolles
In sum, district-scale retrofits engage many more actors, more complex administrative structures, and much larger budgets than building retrofits, but they also have truly transformative potentials. While actual development remains largely market-driven, both the Amherst and Paris municipalities created visions for the sites, enabled site acquisition and transfer, created ad hoc public development authorities, and used the powers afforded by urban renewal, eminent domain, temporary public ownership of all or part of the land, and structured RFP processes to shape development and produce outcomes that go far beyond existing zoning and building codes. In the Paris case, the municipality also prioritized equity and sustainability goals, invested in public infrastructure centered on the central park and substantial geothermal and solar infrastructure, and required a large number of affordable income-tested housing units. In Amherst, the main private investor’s preference for low-density commercial development has modified the plans for the site, but the Town nonetheless laid the foundation for a new urban grid and mixed-use development pattern, and retains some oversight of a portion of the site to implement housing densification goals.
References:
Florian, M-C. 2024. Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Discover the Eco-District of Clichy-Batignolles in Paris, Through the Lens of Paul Clemence. Architecture Daily. https://www.archdaily.com/1019244/ahead-of-the-paris-olympics-discover-the-eco-district-of-clichy-batignolles-in-paris-through-the-lens-of-paul-clemence. 07/24/2024
Paris & Métropole Aménagement. nd. The Ecodistrict Batignolles. https://www.parisetmetropole-amenagement.fr/sites/default/files/2018-11/BD_CB_DossierPress_En_060317.pdfAccessed 4/21/2026.
Paris & Métropole Aménagement. nd. Clichy-Batignolles (Paris 17th) https://www.parisetmetropole-amenagement.fr/en/clichy-batignolles-paris-17th Accessed 4/21/2026.
SEMAVIP, nd.. Historique de la SEMAVIP. http://semavip.fr/qui-sommes-nous/historique-de-la-semavip. Accessed 4/21/2026.
Ville de Paris. 2017. Clichy-Batignolles: un quartier entier chauffé par la géothermie https://www.paris.fr/pages/clichy-batignolles-un-quartier-entier-chauffe-par-la-geothermie-4582, 03/03/2017
Planete Energies. 2024. Clichy-Batignolles : Eco-District Energy Solutions. https://www.planete-energies.com/en/media/article/clichy-batignolles-eco-district-energy-solutions Updated on 03.07.2024
Town of Amherst. 2019. Chapter 203 of the Zoning Code of the Town of Amherst. “Section 5A. Mixed-Use Districts. https://ecode360.com/AM0003/laws/LF1118134.pdf. Accessed 4/30/2026
Town of Amherst. June 3, 2021. “Boulevard Central District Action Plan.” https://www.amherst.ny.us/content/projects.php?dept_id=dept_15&proj_id=proj_08&neworder=03. Accessed 4/30/2026
Town of Amherst. 2022. Boulevard Central District Opportunity Zone. “Boulevard Central District Urban Renewal Area.” https://www.amherst.ny.us/content/projects.php?dept_id=dept_15&proj_id=proj_08&neworder=10. Accessed 4/30/2026
Town of Amherst, 2025. Amherst Town Board Resolution 2025-947. “Funding, Disposition, and Redevelopment Transfer Agreement (CRS #5925) (BCD Urban Renewal Parcels).”
https://amherstny.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=4801&MediaPosition=&ID=31132&CssClass=. Accessed 4/30/2026
WIVB. 2025. “Douglas Jemal Selling Boulevard Mall to Benderson Development.” https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/douglas-jemal-selling-boulevard-mall-to-benderson-development/. Accessed 4/30/2026.
