Dear Willie Gonwa, You might want to rethink that data centers/shopping malls analogy. Best, Retiring Guy

 

The mall's last remaining tenant, Penney's, closed in 2000.  Its decline was already underway by mid-1980s with the closing of Montgomery Wards.  The mall opened in 1968.  Dead mall at 32.

Top photo:  Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter

Headline:  Wisconsin Public Radio, 11/18/2025

Photo by Retiring Guy

Royce Podeszwa reports:

Willie Gonwa is the director for civil and architectural engineering and construction management at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He told “Wisconsin Today” the closest comparison to the data center boom would be the shopping mall craze of the 1970s and 80s — but even that doesn’t match this moment. [emphasis added]

“Everything else in the construction industry is slowing down,” Gonwa said. “Residential apartment buildings are slowing down, a lot of the office buildings are rising in default rates, which are slowing things down. The only thing that is booming, that is really going on right now, is these data centers.”

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