YO! SQUATTING A STRIP MALL!

[urchin]

No joke!

I was walking the town and not too far from my brother's apartment is this field which would be great to squat, as well as a (if not now, soon-to-be) foreclosed on business and some property behind it. However to the main point.

I continued walking and came upon a strip mall that's totally unused. Nobody is making anything out of it except two pigeons I saw and they seemed startled at my presence.

I'm going to keep an eye on it to be sure but I'm confident it's just sitting there to be used by someone. I still can't believe my eyes even as I type this from the McMurder's not remarkably far from it. Somehow over the months I misses this huge structure do I'm thinking others have as well.

 

[urchin]

Asked a woman I saw walking (I was checking the back, which I will get to in a second) about the building and she said everything there shut down because of the nearby Kroger and the building stood unused ever since. I just asked the McMurder's employees about the Kroger and they said it was there for a long time, meaning the building has been unused for at least a fair amount of time.

I expected to see nothing special about the back and I was SO wrong. There is a huge lot which has a large circle of grass. That area alone could hold a small tent city at least. The entire area is humongous and it's sitting there for the taking. This has to be Valhalla.

 

[kokomojoe]

Sounds like a pretty sweet fucking find

 

[urchin]

I just have to hope it's all it seems. I think someone mows the patch of grass I mentioned but other than that I believe it's not being minded. There's an 800-number for anyone interested in leasing there (here at least most people use local numbers), so they may just be paying someone to mow. As I said I'll have to keep up on it a bit.

 

[Alex the Weaver]

Valhalla. Nice! Please keep us updated!

 

[urchin]

Whenever I can take a picture I will make sure I upload it. Might use my brother's phone while he sleeps sometime this week.

 

[urchin]

I talked to a friend who used to live here about it. He said back in 2008, when he had to get a rental car, he came by the area and saw it. At the time there was just one or two businesses open at that point and he could tell it was going downhill.

 

[Stinkyyy]

Get the job mowing it and then squat there ahahaha

 

[Alex the Weaver]

Whenever I can take a picture I will make sure I upload it. Might use my brother's phone while he sleeps sometime this week.

Sweet. A total aside, I used to jam with a kid that drew that symbol you're using as a user icon on everything. Where'd you pick it up?

 

[urchin]

I got it on Google. I found some pretty awesome veganarchy drawings but this has to be one of my favorites.

 

[Alex the Weaver]

Aha, that's the difference; his was solidly colored, so whenever I drew it, I just drew an anarchy symbol, then another over it upside down for the band we played it. I don't think it really meant anything, I was 16 he was 15 and we had no solid politics. It's just weird to see something very similar all these years later online!

 

[urchin]

It's really odd how stuff like that happen. I think I did that before once or twice as well just to see what how it looked.

 

[Alex the Weaver]

It's really odd how stuff like that happen. I think I did that before once or twice as well just to see what how it looked.

Yeah, I like the psychological theory of the collective unconscious for this reason.

 

[katiehabits]

are you planing on trying to squat it for awhile? if you are try opening something up and leaveing it to see if there is a caretaker for the property. if that place is not being looked after it would make a great place not only to live but for projects. are any of the store fronts old restaurants?

 

[urchin]

are you planing on trying to squat it for awhile? if you are try opening something up and leaveing it to see if there is a caretaker for the property. if that place is not being looked after it would make a great place not only to live but for projects. are any of the store fronts old restaurants?

Yes. I happened by there on the way to a dumpster and saw there were two trucks. One person was mowing grass and the other person I didn't see but was most likely doing thr back end.

I thought of so many projects to do there and the sad part is I could probably do them all and still have enough space. I think one may have been a restaurant but it's gutted.

I should say his place is more like a plaza than a "typical" strip mall, or at least a smaller version of one. You can see it in the daytime from the road but if you don't think to look you can easily miss it.

 

[VitaminDe]

Where is this? It sounds awesome. Except if there's a landscaper that comes to cut the grass, I can see local authorities being notified pretty quickly. Apparently, that grass growing is a real burden to society, but not the abandoned building.

 

[urchin]

The person I saw was on the far side of the building, near the road. Tomorrow I'm hoping to swing by and see what's changed. The first night I saw the building however I noticed a bed made of a thick blanket in the back.

 

[VitaminDe]

Maybe someone's already started living there? Keep us posted!

 

[urchin]

Only on the back step and it was only a blanket, nothing more.

 

[varminT]

Only on the back step and it was only a blanket, nothing more.

Way to drop the ball.