Suburban Soul Man

Ron Sher thought he could build a community around an ugly, failing shopping mall. Is he nuts?

By Juliette Guilbert

No less an Eastside observer than Kemper Freeman salutes what Sher’s achieved: “He has done an incredible job of making Crossroads an extension of the community and a place where people feel at home.” In the Eastside’s far-flung workaday neighborhoods, other leftovers from the golden age of malls are still struggling to reinvent themselves. But the Project for Public Spaces’ Ethan Kent doubts that many other redevelopers will follow Sher’s example. “We always say that any great public-space project can be traced back to a zealous nut. You have to be a little crazy to do these things.” Still, facing obsolete properties and fierce competition for high-end shoppers, some may emulate Sher’s practicality, if not his “nuttiness.” “I really care about the civility and the sense of community,” he says. “But I don’t think there was any other way to do it at Crossroads. It had to bootstrap up.”