Dive summary:

• In at least some areas in and around Washington, D.C., it is retail streets that are being built rather than the mammoth indoor malls of the past.
• Kaid Benfield, a co-founder of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system and head of sustainable communities for the Natural Resources Defense Council, argues that walkable retail projects in Maryland and Virginia, including the remaking of Springfield Mall into Springfield Town Center, is the right direction for urban retail and that retail will mean building smaller in the future.
• One makeover in the works is turning the Springfield Mall in Virginia into Springfield Town Center, but Benfield argues that effort is cosmetic because it still assumes shoppers will drive to the destination.

From the article:

[Rachel Nania] cites the Ballston Common Mall in another D.C. inner suburb, as an example. It sits almost on top of a Metro station but is losing customers. ...