Faced with an unrelenting tide of new students in recent years, Mountain State University could have easily found more classroom space in one of the many office buildings hurting for tenants these days.

Instead, the Beckley, W.Va.-based private university went retail, buying a financially troubled, 550,000 square-foot mall near its Martinsburg campus. Students will take classes this fall in space set aside just a brief stroll from retailers such as Foot Locker, Radio Shack and J.C. Penney.