The Secret Mall Apartment I Bizarre Buffet Podcast
In Providence Rhode Island, the Providence Place Mall was just being built. The mall was brand new, and had 1.4 million square feet with 160 stores… it also startled the Am track NE corridor train line and Woonis Nantuckit River. This cost $500 MILLION and was designed as a mega shopping destination to help stimulate the cities economy.
During the time of construction, a local artist and city resident, MICHAEL TOWNSEND, noticed something unusual about the construction of this building every time he would be out jogging past to the point where it stood out to him. Right by the river there were 2 large walls that almost touched but didn’t… as a result, there was a gap in the middle which lead to a large vacant spot. The space was too oddly shaped to be a store, and far too angular to be part of a parking garage.. It looked like some sort of design accident. It was something that Michael noticed, but didn’t really look much further into…until 4 years later..
Find Your Preferred Streaming Platform
Support Bizarre Buffet On Patreon
Follow Bizarre Buffet On Instagram
Like Bizarre Buffet On Facebook
” Secret Mall Apartment ” I Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein
Original Episode Art & Story Concept By Mark Tauriello
Episode Production By Marc Bluestein
” Secret Mall Apartment ” I Episode Show Notes
SECRET MALL APARTMENT
1999
–The late 90s was a popular time from mall expansions as we came to the cusp of a new millennium. Lets face it, by this time, many malls were started to be considered “dated” since they had a defined 1980s/ 1970s aesthetic (which I love). So during this pre internet era, malls were expanding to glass facades and a cleaner look (which could arguably be considered a dated look in todays 2020 standards) Overall, mall culture at this time was forced to keep with the times or fall behind and become a dead mall.
-In Providence Rhode Island, the Providence Place Mall was just being built. The mall was brand new, and had 1.4 million square feet with 160 stores… it also startled the Am track NE corridor train line and Woonis Nantuckit River. This cost $500 MILLION and was designed as a mega shopping destination to help stimulate the cities economy.
-During the time of construction, a local artist and city resident, MICHAEL TOWNSEND, noticed something unusual about the construction of this building every time he would be out jogging past to the point where it stood out to him. Right by the river there were 2 large walls that almost touched but didn’t… as a result, there was a gap in the middle which lead to a large vacant spot. The space was too oddly shaped to be a store, and far too angular to be part of a parking garage.. It looked like some sort of design accident. It was something that Michael noticed, but didn’t really look much further into…until 4 years later..
2003- FORT THUNDER
-After the success of the mall, developers wanted to continue to build up the city. These developers were looking for more areas to build retail spaces. After touring the city, they set their sites on a historical mill district which could be rejuvenated and rebuilt. Unfortately, that meant that a lot of artists were forced out of their living spaces/ work spaces which included Michael himself. At the time he was living with a collective of artists in one of these buildings. The collective was called FORT THUNDER.
-For 2 years, him and residents of FORT THUNDER fought tooth and nail with the city and the developers to not tear down their homes for the sake of commercial space. Unfortunately, after a 2 year long battle, they were forced to leave their homes in the Mill district, and Fort Thunder was replaced by a Parking lot.
-At the time, Michael had been a drawing instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design, and founder of an art movement called “Tape Art” where they made art out of tape around the city.
TRUMMERKIND – (Children of the Ruins)
-After being displaced, Michael partnered up with 7 other artists to create an art movement called TRUMMERKIND (children of the ruins) and it would highlight the amount of livable space being sacrificed for these retail developments.
-To bring this concept to live, the 7 originally planned on living in the Providence Place Mall for a week. To do this, they needed a space inside the mall which would also not be detected by Mall Security (which are the most useless people I ever encountered).
-That being said, they couldn’t live inside a store, mall bathroom, or parking lot. They needed to be more creative about how they could accomplish this.
-After much brain storming, Michael remembered that weird spot that he used to jog passed every day that didn’t make much sense to him. He went to investigate to see if it was still there after all these years, and guess what, it was.
-The developers never sealed it up. To Michaels Discovery, as he went deeper into the space he noticed years worth of garbage/ debris that the construction company had left behind. Like broken wood, bags of zip ties, etc. The room it self was awkwardly narrow, however, it was still pretty large. In fact, it was 750 Sq Feet, which it the average size of a 1 bedroom APT in NYC.
-Michael realized that this 750 sq feet was prime real estate, which was free, and happen to sit in the middle of this mall.
-After realizing this potential gold mine they have discovered, they wanted to expand their concept even further…and looked at it in the same eyes of a developer. How can they turn this unused space into a livable condo, living there indefinatrely, and still not be detected?
-They hauled out all the debris in broad day light. Doing in and out of this alley space with backpacks, and filling it up with garbage, eventually emptying out the space. Once the space was empty, they brought in power chords, gallons of water, lights, silverware, etc. They kept bringing in items until it was enough to live with.
-To hide this space they built a wall out of cinderblocks and installed an industrial looking door so it would blend in with the rest of the mall architecture and go unnoticed. From the outside, it just looked like any old mall storage space that would go unnoticed.
-The 7 also used wires to hook up into the mall powering system, enabling them to have access to electricity. They had lamps that illuminated the space, a TV for entertainment, even a playstation where they allegedly would platy GTA!
-The biggest challenge was having running water which this secret condo lacked. To use water, they would use the movie theatre’s bathroom during late night movies.
-They even decorated the place with a china cabinet, a couch, and mall items. But bringing these furniture pieces was no joke…
-To access this room, every piece of furniture need to descend a metal latter which stood at 15 feet tall.
-How did they manage to sneak all this stuff in??? They simply blended in as mall shoppers in broad daylight.
-When the space was complete, the 8 artists made a pact to never tell anyone about their living situation/ conceptual space.
-The friends would rotate designated times for each person to live in. It was so well concealed that some would live in there for weeks at a time.
HOW LONG DID THIS LAST?
4 years.
It took 4 years until the space was finally found.
-As this space continued to gain momentum with the artists, one day they walked inside their secret living space only to find that the utility door was kicked down, and things were stolen ( playstation, some of their art pieces,) . The artists were baffled because it didn’t seem like an ordinary break in. And also, what were they to do? They technically couldn’t go to the police considering they were living their illegally.
-It was clear that someone else knew about this secret space.
-After this “robbery” they decided to enforce new rules like… You can only enter the secret apartment at night time so you won’t be seen.
-The last day of Secret Mall Condo, Michael was hosting an artist visiting from Hong Kong who went by. The name of Jaffa. He wanted to show her this 4 year long project because she would likely get a kick out of it.
-So in the middle of the day while giving her a tour… right before they exit the secret mall condo…they were met with by Mall Security, who stormed in and detained Michael on the spot. What had happened is that 2 new mall security guards were hired, and saw the artists go in and out the space. They were the ones behind the “break in” to find personal items so they could figure out the culprits responsible (bc they clearly DONT have a life) .
-Michael was arrested, and sent to criminal court.
-the Mall wanted to suit him, and they had a long list of charges against him like a fellony, and breaking / entering.
-During the trial, they also made a dossier of every item he had brought into the space. After the list went on and on, the judge became more and more impressed.
The judge was so impressed , he declared this to NOT be a criminal act and instead of sentencing him to prison or giving him a hefty fine, he got a slap on the wrist for “tresspassing” and sent him on his way.
-For 4 years, Michael was able to create a rent free apartment that flew under the radar that was some how managed to be built in front of so many people without realizing.
The mall has since banned him from stepping foot on the property.
-Michael has done other installations like Tunnel which was a space made in a draining tunnel consisting of floating mannequins caught in a spider web like structure.
Subscribe/Follow
