The Strange True Story of Secret Mall Apartment

A group of artists secretly built and lived in an apartment inside a shopping mall for four years—until security finally caught on. Secret Mall Apartment tells the wild true story.

What if I told you that a group of artists secretly built and lived in an apartment inside a shopping mall for four years—undetected? Sounds like the setup for a bizarre indie film, right? But no, this actually happened! And now, director Jeremy Workman is bringing this story to the forefront with the documentary Secret Mall Apartment.

The hidden home in Providence Place Mall

Back in 2003, artist Michael Townsend and seven of his friends stumbled upon an unused storage space in Rhode Island’s massive Providence Place Mall. They were being pushed out of their neighborhood due to gentrification. Instead of moving somewhere conventional, they did something very unconventional: they moved into the mall.

Accessing the space through covert methods, the group transformed it into a livable apartment. We’re talking about a sofa, a microwave, a PlayStation, a china cabinet, and even some (probably very ironic) mall décor. It became their personal secret apartment. For four years, they pulled off what seemed impossible: they lived inside the mall without getting caught. Sure, they occasionally triggered alarms, but mall security never connected the dots… until 2007.

The discovery

All good things (or at least all illegal secret apartments) must come to an end. Mall security finally discovered the hidden space in September 2007, and the legal system didn’t quite know what to do with this kind of trespassing. Townsend was ultimately sentenced to a night in jail and six months probation and was permanently banned from the mall.

The whole situation was an embarrassment for mall authorities—because, really, how do you explain a full-blown living space thriving right under your nose? Meanwhile, for the artists involved, it was an unexpected end to a bold experiment in reclaiming space and pushing back against consumer culture.

The documentary

Jeremy Workman’s Secret Mall Apartment takes audiences inside this wild, somewhat mythological art project. In the film, Workman uses archival footage, interviews, and reconstructed scenes to highlight the experience. Beyond the sheer absurdity of the situation, the documentary touches on themes like consumerism and gentrification. Malls were once the heart of suburban life, but Secret Mall Apartment asks: What if they could be something more?

So, the next time you’re wandering through an empty corner of a shopping mall, take a moment to look around. You never know what—or who—might be hiding in the walls.

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