Over the past few years, commercial real estate hasn’t just experienced shifts in demand across asset classes — it has experienced a shift in purpose.
At Wildmor, we find ourselves asking clients less often:
“What was this property built for?”
And more often:
“What should this property become?”
Because in today’s environment, highest and best use is no longer tied to original intent. It is tied to evolving behavior.
The Post-COVID Reality: Single-Use Carries More Risk
The pandemic accelerated a trend that was already emerging — the decline of rigid, single-use environments.
For decades, asset classes operated in clearly defined roles:
Offices for work
Retail for shopping
Multifamily for living
Industrial for logistics
But today’s demand drivers prioritize flexibility.
Properties designed around a single function are often the ones now facing leasing pressure, slower absorption, or long-term relevance challenges.
Across the market, we are seeing a clear divide:
Spaces that cannot evolve are being left behind.
Spaces that can adapt are being repositioned.
Adaptive Reuse Is Now a Core Strategy
Across the country, and increasingly across growth markets in the Southeast, properties originally designed for one purpose are being reconfigured for entirely new uses.
Examples include:
Shopping malls evolving into residential and lifestyle environments
Office buildings converting to multifamily or hospitality
Big-box retail transforming into medical, wellness, or experiential uses
Retail corridors integrating live-work-play components
These are not incremental improvements. They represent fundamental shifts in function.
The mall is no longer simply a retail destination.
The office is no longer just a workplace.
The retail strip is no longer purely transactional.
Mixed-Use as a Stability Strategy
Mixed-use development has evolved beyond design preference into a resilience strategy.
Blending residential, retail, office, hospitality, and experiential components creates diversified demand drivers and more consistent activation.
Instead of relying on a single tenant category or economic cycle, mixed-use environments distribute risk and enhance long-term viability.
Investors and occupiers are increasingly drawn to environments where:
Living, working, and services coexist
Walkability is embedded
Experience complements function
This is not solely a lifestyle-driven shift. It is an economic one.
Activated environments support:
Longer dwell times
Stronger tenant retention
More stable leasing demand
The Office Repositioning Story
Office assets continue to be one of the most active areas of repositioning.
The relevant question is no longer whether office demand will return, but rather what type of office belongs in a given location.
We are advising clients to evaluate options such as:
Partial residential conversions
Amenity-driven repositioning
Integration into mixed-use environments
Flexible workspace overlays
In many cases, office buildings that struggle as standalone assets may perform successfully as part of a broader ecosystem.
Legacy Retail as Redevelopment Opportunity
Underperforming malls are increasingly being evaluated not as retail failures, but as land-rich redevelopment opportunities.
Current feasibility discussions often center on:
Residential integration
Medical and wellness anchors
Hospitality components
Entertainment and experiential uses
Community-oriented public space
The objective is no longer to restore traditional foot traffic. It is to create daily-use environments.
Implications for Owners and Investors
For property owners, this period presents both risk and opportunity.
Assets that once appeared stable may now require:
Strategic repositioning
Entitlement reassessment
Capital planning
Market realignment
At the same time, properties previously viewed as obsolete may offer meaningful upside through:
Adaptive reuse
Mixed-use integration
Functional diversification
Determining when to lease, reposition, redevelop, or exit has become significantly more complex.
This is where advisory matters.
The Wildmor Perspective
At Wildmor, our role extends beyond transactions.
We help clients evaluate long-term relevance, market alignment, and value creation through strategic repositioning.
We believe the future of commercial real estate belongs to adaptable environments.
The most successful assets of the next decade will not be defined by what they were built to do.
They will be defined by how effectively they evolve.
