600 more Rackspace employees move into the old Windsor Park Mall

For years the old Windsor Park Mall sat vacant. It had become an eye-sore for the struggling Walzem Road neighborhood.

However, when the internet hosting company Rackspace purchased the site, revitalization of this once blighted area began.

 

This week, 600 more Rackspace employees are moving into the old mall.

 

For months the information technology company has been renovating the building - recycling the glass, steal, even the mall's escalators have been fixed and are now a part of the Rackspace campus.

 

"We've always described it as the world's largest recycling project," said Rackspace Director of Real Estate Randy Smith. “I believe that this mall would have probably ended up in a landfill if not for Rackspace or somebody like us."

 

This summer, Lula’s Mexican Café was one of several new businesses that opened across the street from the old Windsor Park Mall. 

 

“It happened that there was an opportunity here so we took it,” said restaurant owner Lula Gabriel.

 

Seventy-percent of the restaurants’ customers are Rackspace employees. 

 

Smith said, “(This is) a wonderful part of town that just needed a little vibrancy and a little attention."