The Secret Mall Apartment

In the late 19th century, Providence, Rhode Island, would become one of the most influential places in America. Yet by the mid 1920s, the slow decline of the city would begin. The city was greatly affected by the Great Depression, shutting down the majority of its manufacturing industries, leaving more than a third of the labor force unemployed. The subsequent recession of 1937 was immediately followed by the New England hurricane of 1938, which flooded the city's downtown. A large amount of the population fled the city, leaving behind the poor and elderly residents, causing the eventual decline of the downtown area. Once full of shops and places to ‌see the arts, the city became what many describe as dead. In 1987, Mayor Joseph P. Paolino Jr. brought an idea to the city, believing a mall would bring people back, and by 1996, Providence's City Council approved a revised plan for the mall with a budget of 360 million dollars. The mall opened to the public on August 20th, 1999, and only four years later would the events of the secret apartment take place.

2003, Michael Townsend

After the death of downtown Providence and the loss of many loved places and homes in 2003, Michael Townsend and his then wife, Adriana Young, saw a commercial for the Providence Place mall. In the advertisement, a woman mentions how the mall made her life better. She says the mall is a one-stop destination where she can get everything she needs for her family. She then goes on, stating she wishes she could live at the mall. Michael, being an artist and an avid hater of the mall, because it was taking housing opportunities away from the community, brings up the idea of, “What if we just... move in?” The idea would originally only be set for a week. In the documentary Secret Mall Apartment, we see the first artists Michael, Adriana, Collin, and Andrew, visiting the mall, spending time in the food court, exploring, filming stores, trying on clothes, and eventually sleeping in a 4x4ft area of the parking garage. Cold nights while sleeping in the garage reminded Michael of a memory from when the mall was being built. A gap in construction blueprints. He could simply not figure out what it could be for. Michael would go on to refer to it as “the nowhere space.” Tired of sleeping in the parking garage, the group set off to find this space. Following the mall's layout, they found the area under the movie theater, just above the ground, where they would have to maneuver their way through concrete and pillars to reach the first discovered entrance of their new “home.”

Michael & Adriana's Big Idea

Upon seeing how big the space was, Adriana deemed it undeveloped, which started Michael's fixation on the idea that if you find undeveloped space, you have the obligation to develop it. Even if said space is only 750 square feet. The first thing the group figured out was the couch. In the documentary, we follow them into many thrift stores, such as the Salvation Army, to furnish space. After almost being caught just a few days in, they get past their run-in with security, and we don't see another close call until the end. After realizing how big the job would actually be, they brought in friends Greta, James, Emily, and Jay. The group as a whole would go on to bring in cabinets, a table, a PlayStation, a TV, a waffle maker, and even a cinder block as they built extra walls for stability. A project the group first considered to only take two years would end up taking them 4 years; all while still being active in the public art world. 

Michael The Artist

Michael Townsend can not remember a time when he wasn’t making art. Friends describe him as having “a hard time separating art from life,” something that, after the discovery of the apartment, would lead Adriana Young to break up with Michael. In the documentary, we learn that before the apartment, Michael worked in hospitals with young patients, making murals made of tape based on their interests. For his long hours of work, he was paid with free hospital lunches for himself and his team. The hospital staff who worked with Michael said it seemed that many members of his team didn’t ‌eat if they weren't eating at the hospital. Michael continues to make art out of tape to this day. Another big moment of his art is seen in the documentary. Michael and the group traveled under a tunnel not far from the mall, and built a piece of what Michael says was inspired by growing up. The project consists of a lot of string and wires draped around the tunnel; some of the ropes hold up coffin-like boxes, which Michael took everything he's ever owned up to that point and put them in the boxes to mark the death of childhood. This art project would stay up for 8 years until residents of Providence realized there were items in the boxes and eventually stole everything in them.

The Break In & The End

In 2007, the “apartment” by this point was on the verge of being finished, when the group started to notice that the door, which once locked, had been kicked in, and someone had been hanging out in their house. At the time, Michael didn't know who, just that they were eating there, playing their PlayStation, and even ended up stealing the PlayStation and some pictures. In the documentary, we learn that it was actually two young mall employees who had found it and were using it to skip out on work. For months, they lived coexisting without ever seeing each other, but Michael knew he needed to put a rush on finishing the place because they were running out of time. In October ‌2007, while in the middle of putting in flooring for the apartment, Michael heard the sounds of men outside the door, men with walkie-talkies. As the doorknob started to turn, his mind ran with the choices he had. Michael says his first thought was to “get out of there, book it.” The next choice was, “They were entering ‌my home, so I should just invite them in as guests. Treat them like royalty, and maybe they would treat me well in return.” But he knew that wouldn't work. For a moment he had hope, “Maybe this is just a cool person with a walkie-talkie.” But as the security guards walked in, he knew it was over, so he stepped right up and… “Surprise!”

The Downfall

After the discovery, Michael was arrested on the spot, and the story made its way to the news. Before this documentary, Michael was the only one of the 8 ever identified and charged. Despite everything, Michael was only given 6 months' probation on trespassing charges and a lifetime ban from Providence Place Mall. At the end of the documentary, we see Michael going under the mall to find the door that still opens with his key. Unfortunately, the mall was recently put up for sale after its decline in recent years. Providence residents think this might be the end of the mall that many once despised. As mentioned before, Michael and Adriana broke up in 2007 and also divorced in 2008 due to Michael's obsession with the mall. After this, Michael struggled to keep up with life and creating art. The main group continues to work in the arts to this day, but the secret mall apartment has become nothing but a fond memory. Many of them keep their key to nowhere on their keychains, but was it worth it? And would you live in the mall? Even for just a week.