KEY POINTS
  • Brookfield Properties has signed a deal with entertainment company Kilburn Live to turn the parking lots at a number of its malls in the U.S. into drive-in theaters, hosting movies and virtual concerts. 
  • The creativity stems from the complexity of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving retail real estate owners scrambling for solutions. 
  • A new revenue source, from parking lots, is likely a welcome reprieve for landlords coping with the new reality of a number of their tenants either closing for good, paying less rent, or not paying rent altogether during the pandemic. 

In this article

A drive-in movie theater is set up in the parking lot of Brookfield's Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree, Colorado, right outside of Denver.

Parking lots, of all places, are turning into bigger sources of revenue for some mall owners during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Brookfield Properties has signed a deal with entertainment company Kilburn Live to turn the parking lots at a number of its malls in the U.S. into drive-in theaters, hosting movies and virtual concerts, with many consumers looking for outdoor activities to participate in during the Covid-19 crisis. So far, they are at five Brookfield locations in Denver, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and Woodbridge, New Jersey. More are on the way, according to the two companies. 

In this article