The White Flint Mall used to be one of the region’s luxurious shopping centers, but all but a single store closed last year. This drone video explores the mall’s now-decaying remains.

The video is by Mike Purks. It gives viewers a full tour, from the mall’s overgrown outside and empty parking lots to its dust-covered elevator shafts and crumbling roofs.

Malls are closing all across the country, with consumers preferring to shop online and spend their leisure time in walkable, mixed-use areas rather than inside of enclosed retail environments. Though a Lord & Taylor store is still open there, the White Flint Mall is a symbol of how this is happening in our region.

The mall is slated for an ambitious redevelopment in the coming years, and it could serve as a blueprint for similar buildings facing the same changes.

Brendan Casey has lived in Washington, DC for the past several years and resides in Capitol Hill. His postgraduate background is in environmental policy and he works as a consultant on federal environmental and transportation issues. As a daily bike commuter, Brendan is a strong advocate for cyclist and pedestrian safety throughout the Washington region and beyond.