The Piqua Mall is an underutilized shopping mall in Piqua, Ohio.  While some tenants of the mall remain, such as a hotel and Mexican restaurant, most retail space is vacant and the sprawling parking lot which surrounds the mall remains largely empty.  RCS Construction is leading an effort to repurpose and revitalize the interior of the mall to provide more neighborhood-focussed commercial uses.  They asked MWA to propose ideas for how residential units could be added to the site.

In early 2025,  MWA led an on-site design Charrette to redevelop the front parking lot into a neighborhood of middle-density residential buildings.  Using RCS’s proposed mutli-family types, the team arranged buildings to front a sequence of pedestrian paths with parking for units provided either in the back or remotely.  Streets, paths, and civic spaces were designed to be fully integrated with the proposed program of the mall, creating a seamless pedestrian connection between residential units and commercial uses.  In the interest of providing variety of housing types, MWA also introduced courts of attached townhomes modeled after the Dutch Beguinage.  Additional factors considered in the plan include preservation of existing utility easements, fire apparatus access, vehicular access, and the City’s desire to connect to existing trails system.

The plan is currently undergoing further development and refinement.