Dive summary:

• Set to open this spring is an apartment development that includes 48 units, 38 of them micro units ranging from 225 to 450 square feet, and it took no new construction because they are in the nation's first indoor shopping mall – built in 1828.
• The project in Providence, R.I., comes from the recession's having finally sucked the last life out of retail-only use for the Greek Revival building that three years ago was on preservationists' endangered list.
• The redevelopment plan has two floors of living space above ground floor space for small businesses, and most of the units are clearly "starters" for newly graduated students or folks restarting after being driven home by the recession since they have only microwaves (not ovens) and built-in beds and baths.

From the article:

"It’s allowing us basically to put the building back to [the scale] it was when it was built." ...