Michael Townsend, Adriana Yoto and six other artists covertly built an apartment in a empty space in one of the mall's parking garages in 2003 after hearing an ad imagining living there and lived there for up to three weeks at a time while documenting mall life. A cinderblock wall was built to keep it under the radar. The apartment was burglarized at one point, with the PlayStation 2 being stolen. (Some sources report the security guards took it in an attempt to identify the occupants) It had no running water so the residents all used the mall bathrooms. Townsend was caught in 2007 after an artist from Hong Kong, Jaffa Lam, visited and they were detected by security guards. After the fully furnished apartment was discovered by mall security, Townsend, the head of the artists’ cooperative, was initially charged with breaking and entering but it was reduced to trespassing. The story received national attention. Prior to the discovery, he was planning on building a kitchen, install wooden flooring, as well as adding a second bedroom. He pleaded no contest to trespassing and was sentenced to probation on October 2, 2007. The mall trespassed him for life, giving him a map with a red line he cannot cross.
