Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Calgary

Fixing a Blank Wall Streetscape With Storefront Retrofits

Every city has places where the buildings present a blank face to the sidewalk. A dark, recessed arcade deadening the pedestrian environment or a soulless concrete wall fronting a windswept plaza.

Consultant Brent Toderian, formerly the planning director for the city of Vancouver, pointed out a cheap and easy solution to this problem. He calls them "blank wall retrofits," storefronts that can be inserted over blank walls to add sidewalk-facing retail. He tweeted this great example in Calgary, Alberta: 

Via Brent Toderian
Via Brent Toderian
Via Brent Toderian

This retrofit fits between the lobby and plaza of the brutalist Westin Calgary and the sidewalk.

"It's a great technique for dealing with fundamentally flawed architecture that presents blank walls to streets and public places," Toderian says. "Unlike 'make-up on a pig' -- e.g. murals -- this fundamentally changes the street edge condition. The pig is no longer a pig. It potentially changes un-urban to urban."

We reached out to our readers to find more success stories. Here's what they sent us.

Arlington, Virginia

On Crystal Drive in Arlington, Virginia, a blank wall has been transformed into a walkable streetscape. Photo: Google Maps
On Crystal Drive in Arlington, Virginia, a blank wall was transformed into a more inviting streetscape that engages with the sidewalk. Photo: Google Maps
On Crystal Drive in Arlington, Virginia, a blank wall has been transformed into a walkable streetscape. Photo: Google Maps

This one in Arlington, Virginia, comes from Dan Malouff at BeyondDC. The retrofit was completed in the early aughts. Below you can see another corner of the "2200 Building" that has not been retrofitted.

In this case, the 2200 Building contains an indoor mall. Many of these types of retrofits reach inside the building and make better use of the lobby or other first floor space.

Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

Minneapolis

Sam Newberg sent us this example from Minnesota, which sought to make a traditional department store design more welcoming and people-friendly. At the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, "the city simply worked with retailers to build two retail storefronts stuck on the building’s exterior," Newberg writes on Streets.mn.

BwohhM0IgAAl84Y
Image: Streets.mn

Toronto

This retrofit enlivens the area along the brutalist Manulife Centre building in Toronto's Yorkville neighborhood. It was sent to us by Gil Meslin.

Photo:Gil Meslin via Twitter
Photo: Gil Meslin via Twitter
Photo:Gil Meslin via Twitter

Here's a shot of the building from a different angle, before the add-on -- not very inviting.

Photo: BlogTO
Photo: BlogTO
Photo: BlogTO

Chicago

Here's an especially good example from the Windy City. This retail space was added where a garage used to sit. As you can see, bicyclists are taking good advantage of the more inviting place that was created.

Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

We don't have a "before" photo of this building, but here's a look at the other half, which is still a garage, for a sense of what it used to be like.

Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

A Child Went For a Walk on a Rural Highway Alone. His Mom Got Arrested For It.

Should parents — or the state? — be liable when their children walk on dangerous roads?

January 27, 2025

Monday’s Headlines Smooth the Way

Sean Duffy, President Trump's nominee to head the U.S. DOT, breezed through Senate hearings.

January 27, 2025

Study: People Protected Bike Lanes Made a Difference

A new study by an NYU researcher shows that a type of protest invented in San Francisco has helped get protected bike lanes constructed in North America and beyond.

January 24, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Quit the Space Race

Money for Acela, the D.C. Metro and other transit systems could have been spent on a moon base instead. Get a history lesson in today's headlines.

January 24, 2025

OPINION: Slow Down on Our Bike Paths!

Our bike lanes have become what social critic Ivan Illich once defined as degraded public space. Here's one possible fix.

January 24, 2025
See all posts