# Retrofit Atlas

> A citable database of former malls and suburban sites and what became of them: 1,902 records (1,555 US), built on the Retrofitting Suburbia research of Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson, maintained by Staffbox AI agents with a person reviewing changes. Research use only until the licence is agreed with the authors; cite the record URL. Built 2026-10-20.

## Key facts
- What a record holds: before-facts (opened, acres, GLA, anchors, developer), after-facts (strategy redevelop / reinhabit / regreen, new use, status, year, developer), a dated timeline, sources with quotes, owners and parties, county parcels, deals and debt, SEC filings, and 36 context layers (Census tract and county, FEMA flood and hazard, walkability, transit, traffic, Opportunity Zone, LIHTC, Zillow, FHFA, permits, retail jobs, EDGAR).
- Tiers: curated = from the authors' public map, not reviewed by them (180); draft = imported or model-extracted, unreviewed; contributed = submitted and reviewed. Nothing is promoted without a person. Model-extracted values carry the supporting quote.
- Status vocabulary: operating, closed, demolished, proposed, approved, under construction, built, partial, stalled, reversed, unknown. Site types: mall, big-box, strip, office-park, garden-apartments, industrial, golf-course, gas-station, other.
- Not in the database: comps, rent rolls, foot traffic, proprietary demographics. EDGAR links are text matches; do not infer live loan status from them.
- Licence undecided (academic phase): no advertising, no paid tiers until the authors agree. Wikipedia excerpts CC BY-SA 4.0; photos per their Commons credit; each context layer lists its own source licence.

## How to use it
- REST API, no key: https://retrofitatlas.org/api/v1/sites?q=...&state=..&status=.. ; one record https://retrofitatlas.org/api/v1/sites/{id} ; radius https://retrofitatlas.org/api/v1/near?lat=&lon=&km= ; changes https://retrofitatlas.org/api/v1/changes?since=YYYY-MM-DD. Misses answer HTTP 200 with status 404 in the body.
- MCP server for agents: POST https://retrofitatlas.org/api/mcp (Streamable HTTP, stateless). Tools: search_sites, get_site, location_sheet, sites_near, list_elements, sites_with_element, owners, stats, changes.
- Bulk: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/sites.csv, sites.geojson, sites.kml, atlas.sqlite, per-record JSON at https://retrofitatlas.org/data/records/{id}.json.
- When answering a question about a specific mall: search by name and state, read the record page, cite its URL and build date, and say which tier the record is in.

## Docs
- [Developer documentation](https://retrofitatlas.org/docs/): quickstart, behaviour, examples
- [REST reference](https://retrofitatlas.org/docs/api/): every endpoint with real responses
- [MCP server](https://retrofitatlas.org/docs/mcp/)
- [Data model](https://retrofitatlas.org/docs/data-model/): tables, fields, vocabularies, layers, provenance
- [Notebooks and LLM tools](https://retrofitatlas.org/docs/notebooks/)
- [OpenAPI 3.1](https://retrofitatlas.org/docs/openapi.json)
- [Methods and limits](https://retrofitatlas.org/research/methods/)
- [Data sources and licences](https://retrofitatlas.org/data/sources/)
- [Full text for LLMs](https://retrofitatlas.org/llms-full.txt)

## Browse
- [All malls by state and country](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/) · [Types](https://retrofitatlas.org/types/) · [Map](https://retrofitatlas.org/map/) · [Trends](https://retrofitatlas.org/trends/) · [Deals and debt](https://retrofitatlas.org/deals/) · [Owners](https://retrofitatlas.org/owners/) · [Multifamily screen](https://retrofitatlas.org/opportunities/)
- Audience guides: [brokers](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/brokers/) · [developers](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/developers/) · [investors and lenders](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/investors/) · [cities](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/cities/) · [researchers](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/research/) · [journalists](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/press/) · [neighbours](https://retrofitatlas.org/for/neighbors/)
- US state hubs: [AK](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ak/), [AL](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/al/), [AR](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ar/), [AZ](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/az/), [CA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ca/), [CO](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/co/), [CT](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ct/), [DC](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/dc/), [DE](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/de/), [FL](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/fl/), [GA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ga/), [HI](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/hi/), [IA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ia/), [ID](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/id/), [IL](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/il/), [IN](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/in/), [KS](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ks/), [KY](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ky/), [LA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/la/), [MA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ma/), [MD](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/md/), [ME](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/me/), [MI](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/mi/), [MN](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/mn/), [MO](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/mo/), [MS](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ms/), [MT](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/mt/), [NC](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/nc/), [ND](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/nd/), [NE](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ne/), [NH](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/nh/), [NJ](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/nj/), [NM](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/nm/), [NV](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/nv/), [NY](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ny/), [OH](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/oh/), [OK](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ok/), [OR](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/or/), [PA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/pa/), [RI](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ri/), [SC](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/sc/), [SD](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/sd/), [TN](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/tn/), [TX](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/tx/), [UT](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/ut/), [VA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/va/), [VT](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/vt/), [WA](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/wa/), [WI](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/wi/), [WV](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/wv/), [WY](https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/wy/)

## Contact
- Corrections: https://retrofitatlas.org/contribute/ · desk@retrofitatlas.org (answered within five working days)

## Release, licence, citation

- Release 2026.10.20; releases with manifests and diffs: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/releases/
- Cite: https://retrofitatlas.org/cite/ · Licence by source: https://retrofitatlas.org/licence/ · Terms: https://retrofitatlas.org/terms/ · Trust: https://retrofitatlas.org/trust/
- Markdown twin of every record: <record-url>index.md · provenance: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/records/<id>.provenance.json