Can a new push save Washington Square Mall?

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17 thoughts on “Can a new push save Washington Square Mall?

    1. And who would maintain that Park? The city can’t afford to take care of the ones that currently has.

  1. Sadly, the place is hopeless. As many dead malls across the US, a resurrection is highly unlikely given online shopping and the fact that Indianapolis resident do not have sufficient disposable income to support multiple malls.

    In reality, there have not been nor are there now truly first rate malls in Indy as one finds in ‘major’ cities such as Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, etc. Indy, an agglomeration of 2 million+ residents and a massive metro area physical dimensions, still functions and feels like a minor metro, balkanized and stymied by Statehouse micro-management.

    1. The mall is right on East Washington st, hence the name Washington sq. It sits on the east side of the city as stated by Kenny N.There isn’t a mall on the NW side of Indy that im aware of.

  2. When Kohl’s and others vacated across the street, that was the ‘canary in the mine’. It would be nice to see the property redeveloped, but if the much smaller, closer to town Irvington Plaza 6 miles west can’t get off the ground…..in spite of positive local intentions, no one is holding their breath. Get Irvington ‘right’ then it might spark expanded re investments.

    1. Kohl’s has been on the decline for nearly a decade. Walmart, Meijer, Kroger, Best Buy, CFA, Starbucks are all within a few minute drive of the mall. The area has some challenges but it isn’t a retail wasteland. The problem is specifically the mall.

  3. Exhibit #56389583 of smell being the sense most closely tied to memory:

    Whenever I think of past visits to Washington Square, I can immediately smell the carmel-corn place. Good times.

  4. The massive indoor shopping mall is not coming back. Yes, it evokes nostalgia for those of us of a certain age. But nostalgia is not a business model. If they can find a profitable mixed use to save most of the physical infrastructure, I’m all for it. If not, we should let nature take its course. And speaking of nature, we do seem to lack for green spaces in this city. I’d be okay with the space being turned into a public park.

  5. Sell or Donate to Community Hospital or to Hancock County Hospital to Serve Far East side Indianapolis, Cumberland and Western Greenfield area. Health needs for that area/ Each section of mall could be refurbished for various health care needs and services. Mall Layout could be divided into separate types of Health Care Needs and services. Call us; Charter Commercial Realty Group.

  6. Good question. Most of the first – tier business have already closed or moved. GNC, finish line, foot locker, and Bath & body Works have all moved to adjacent shopping plazas, and so did Payless shoe source before they all closed. I think target is the last business left in that mall I go to.

  7. The manager Lee is full of crap. He’s been saying the same thing for years. I think he even lives at the mall. I was present when he talked to a friend of mine who was taking care of the Golden Corral property before he unexpectedly passed away last December. Lee bragged about this and that. Dates like he was a big shot all while driving a 20 year old BMW. I wouldn’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth and doubt the property owners in Ohio actually care about the mall.

  8. Unfortunately for my Councilman Michael-Hart, and my professional landscape architect colleague Eshrati, new money and reuse of existing structures will be a fruitless and wasteful effort. The demographics of the area would not support those ideas or proposals.
    Total demolition and total redevelopment are the only solutions. This area could not support a Hamilton Town Center type development, nor another pie in the sky ‘Lafayette Square’ redevelopment pipedream.
    The days of this large of a mall are over and we need to accept that.
    The managers of both Kohl’s and Sam’s Club told me they were the most shoplifted stores in the Indiana markets, and both without room for any serious expansion, part of the cause for shutting down and leaving.
    Look around the mall site, north and northeast are derelict land with minimal maintenance.
    The only responsible landowner, excepting some of the outlots along Washington Street is the Washington Park Cemetery, one of the city’s first and oldest, and very well maintained.
    It may sound weird, but a massive expansion of the Flanner & Buchanan cemetery might be the better of any default land uses.
    Just like the unsightly and unkept old Eastgate mall site should have been, total demolition and redevelopment are the only viable solutions for this outdated Washington Square mall site.
    We’ve seen and experienced the lifestyles, behaviors, and lack of respect for the adjacent commercial developments, and unfortunately it has more or less destined the mall site.

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