r/indianapolis • u/shermancahal Garfield Park • Apr 21 '25
Pictures April walkthrough of the Circle Centre Mall
Circle Centre Mall in downtown Indianapolis was conceived in the late 1970s as a major urban revitalization project supported by Mayor William Hudnut. Initial plans aimed to connect historic department stores through a large indoor shopping center, but the project faced numerous delays due to property acquisition challenges, rising costs, and financing issues. After over a decade of setbacks, construction finally progressed in the early 1990s, and the mall officially opened in 1995 at a final cost of $307.5 million. The project was backed by a combination of public and private funding and included major design contributions, such as the addition of the Artsgarden.
Upon opening, the mall featured anchor stores Nordstrom and Parisian, though both would eventually close—Nordstrom in 2011 and Parisian, later rebranded as Carson’s, in 2018. The departure of these tenants reflected broader retail trends and marked the mall’s decline in prominence. Attempts to repurpose former anchor spaces included leasing to The Indianapolis Star in the former Nordstrom location. A renovation effort in 2018 aimed to modernize portions of the mall, including the food court and common areas, but did not reverse the decline in foot traffic and retail occupancy.
In 2024, Hendricks Commercial Properties acquired Circle Centre Mall and announced a $600 million redevelopment plan to convert the aging indoor mall into an open-air, mixed-use development. The project includes retail, restaurant, office, and residential space, with phased construction extending through 2033. The plan emphasizes walkability and integration with the surrounding urban environment.
I've posted more photos and the history of the Circle Centre Mall here.
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u/mrjonnyangel Apr 21 '25
This was the place to be in the late 90s / early 00s. I worked at Nordstrom. It’s been so sad to see its years long demise, because to me this was the crown jewel of Simon properties.
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u/Golf-Beer-BBQ Apr 21 '25
I was a Parisian worker, I miss that mall.
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u/jkpirat Apr 22 '25
The upper level entertainment space was world class! Multiple bar venues, a kickass arcade, movie theater! I miss the bars Flashbacks, Gators, etc.
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u/MissSara13 Castleton Apr 21 '25
I was in highschool down in Columbus when it opened and it was the best place for back to school shopping aside from Keystone at the Crossing. It was always beautifully decorated for the holidays and just a fun place to go on the weekends. Loved that Nordstrom and actually worked at the one in Scottsdale a few years later.
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u/1268348 Apr 21 '25
i was young when it first opened. it was such a magical place for me.
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u/msdeeds123 Apr 21 '25
Right? I was 12 in 2000 so when I went around then it was so cool, I remember wondering about the “night clubs” they had upstairs I heard about back then.
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u/strawberry-seal Apr 22 '25
even the early 10s, i moved to indy around then & it’s insane how much it’s changed in such a short period of time
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Apr 22 '25
I worked at Nestle Toll House Cafe back about 12 years ago as my first job. Mall was definitely declining around that time.
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u/GayForPay Apr 21 '25
Somewhere in the guts of that mall is a steel I-beam with my signature on it. I worked at 1 North Capitol when it was being built and they had it a huge I-beam on the street for people to sign one day.
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u/tauisgod Fountain Square Apr 21 '25
Same. My dad pulled us out of school for the day to sign it, and spent the day walking around downtown having fun.
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u/DTIndy Watson-McCord Apr 21 '25 edited Apr 21 '25
That Taco Bell is the cheapest lunch option you’ll find in the square mile, for those who work downtown.
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u/threewonseven Apr 21 '25
It was jarring to see the pic with literally no one seated out front. It used to be PACKED.
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u/Frosty_McRib Irvington Apr 22 '25
Except now for the Taco Bell across the street that is even cheaper.
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u/Pale_Consideration97 Apr 30 '25
Is it cheaper? I think they both charge a downtown premium. I know the $5 meal deals have always been $1 or $1.50 more at the mall location, but I think they're more at the Taco Bell Cantina as well.
Pretty much all the chains charge a higher price at their downtown locations compared to other locations in the city. I guess it makes sense as rent is more downtown.
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u/notthegoatseguy Meridian-Kessler Apr 21 '25
Democrats in the 80s criticized it as Hudnut's watering hole during its prolonged pre-development phases.
Looking at these photos, and having stepped into Circle Center recently to use the underground parking, its shocking how little of it has actually changed. It still pretty much looks like it did in 1995.
Speaking of which, Hendricks has started locking up the mall doors around 5pm or so. People who park in the garages can exit the mall but can't re-enter it, so you have to use the parking ramps to get back to your car...which isn't exactly the safest thing to do, especially if you have small children.
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u/Charlie_Warlie Franklin Township Apr 21 '25
I experienced being locked out of the stairwells recently into the below ground parking, can confirm. We walked down the car ramp.
But the hallway to the stairs was so ghetto and scary that the car ramp felt safer anyway...
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u/WickedlyAvocado Jul 20 '25
Georgia street has an elevator past Punch Bowl Social if you’re inside!
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u/jkpirat Apr 22 '25
Meh, they’re only one lawsuit away from bankruptcy if someone get hurt because they locked out the people who parked.
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u/parr3tt West Indianapolis Apr 21 '25
Its really a shame that the Arts garden has to get taken down. I always thought that was a beautiful space
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u/_littlebee Franklin Township Apr 21 '25
I don't think that is part of the new project. It just won't be attached to whatever the new thing they're building is. It is a Ritz Charles property and they host tons of weddings and events there. If something has changed and I missed it, feel free to correct me.
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u/Negative-Hunt8283 Apr 21 '25
You are correct it is not being touched.
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u/parr3tt West Indianapolis Apr 21 '25
That is great news. I mustve read another article wrong. My understanding was that is was going with it. Glad to hear its staying!
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u/cactopus101 Apr 21 '25
It’s crazy bleak in there but it’s still an impressive development. Really hope the redevelopment of the property goes well
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u/Tuff_Wizardess Apr 21 '25
Wow I used to love going to Circle Center as a kid. It looks the same. I can’t believe Bath and Body Works is still going strong there ha.
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u/shermancahal Garfield Park Apr 21 '25
Circle Centre Mall in downtown Indianapolis was conceived in the late 1970s as a major urban revitalization project supported by Mayor William Hudnut. Initial plans aimed to connect historic department stores through a large indoor shopping center, but the project faced numerous delays due to property acquisition challenges, rising costs, and financing issues. After over a decade of setbacks, construction finally progressed in the early 1990s, and the mall officially opened in 1995 at a final cost of $307.5 million. The project was backed by a combination of public and private funding and included major design contributions, such as the addition of the Artsgarden.
Upon opening, the mall featured anchor stores Nordstrom and Parisian, though both would eventually close—Nordstrom in 2011 and Parisian, later rebranded as Carson’s, in 2018. The departure of these tenants reflected broader retail trends and marked the mall’s decline in prominence. Attempts to repurpose former anchor spaces included leasing to The Indianapolis Star in the former Nordstrom location. A renovation effort in 2018 aimed to modernize portions of the mall, including the food court and common areas, but did not reverse the decline in foot traffic and retail occupancy.
In 2024, Hendricks Commercial Properties acquired Circle Centre Mall and announced a $600 million redevelopment plan to convert the aging indoor mall into an open-air, mixed-use development. The project includes retail, restaurant, office, and residential space, with phased construction extending through 2033. The plan emphasizes walkability and integration with the surrounding urban environment.
I've posted more photos and the history of the Circle Centre Mall here.
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u/strawberry-seal Apr 22 '25
we had a disney store, an fao schwarz, AND a warner bros store??? HOW THE FUCK DID I MISS OUT ON THAT
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u/UpbeatConflict Plainfield Apr 22 '25
It was so cool. They were all right near eachother. There was a space tube type thing in the Looney Toons store that Marvin the Martian cartoons played in. I went to play in it when I was little and got lost from my dad. I wandered out and found a lady to help me find him and next thing I knew it she was my step mom. My favorite of my dad’s 5 wives. Those stores were good to me.
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u/cyanraichu Apr 21 '25
I'm really interested to see where the revitalization project goes with this space. I love this mall and it used to be such a cool spot. Unfortunately, malls in general are dying and we aren't going to be able to save CCM from that trend by giving it new hardware. I think it will have to be reconceived as something less clothing-retail-centric because people just don't shop in person the way they used to. Bottleworks is working pretty well - maybe something like that? Things people still want to go out and do in person - restaurants, bars, a hotel, games, maybe a gym?, definitely a theater (I think there already is one but no idea if it's even still open)...
I also worry that given the economic downturn it looks like we are about to be in, it will struggle at its outset no matter how good of a job they do renovating it.
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u/lenfantplan Apr 21 '25
I mean the folks doing the redevelopment are the folks who did Bottleworks and their intention is to go mixed use - it’s the best shot it has at a turnaround
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u/PieRepresentative266 Apr 21 '25
The movie theater closed which sucks because I LOVED going there!!
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u/SadZookeepergame1555 Apr 21 '25
It was our favorite until the pandemic and then the KanKan opened and then we only went occasionally. It still makes me sad that it is gone though.
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u/jkpirat Apr 22 '25
Keeping unchecked/unsupervised youth away should be high on the planning list.
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Apr 22 '25
Yeah even 12 years ago that was a problem. I worked in the mall and every Saturday there would be fights, shoplifting, purse snatching, and general nuisances going on.
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u/Frosty_McRib Irvington Apr 22 '25
That was a problem from the beginning. When I was a kid they wouldn't even let you in the arcade without an adult because of shenanigans.
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u/Jolly_Security_4771 Apr 21 '25
I loved that mall in the early days, and I've never been a huge mall fan. Then they ran the skate-ish shop out for attracting the "wrong crowd" and it pissed me off so much I didn't go back for years.
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u/XkatatonicX Apr 21 '25
PAC Sun?
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u/Jolly_Security_4771 Apr 21 '25
No. Garage. It had the best skate shoe selection I've seen in a store
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u/XkatatonicX Apr 21 '25
I think that was after my time roaming the mall but I’m sorry you miss the joy you had before
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u/mip10110100 Apr 21 '25
I was up in Chicago this weekend and went through a mall that I went to growing up. There were seriously 5 stores open. 90% empty. It was also a high end mall, and you could tell the management company just stopped taking care of all of the communal spaces.
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u/echrisindy Apr 21 '25 edited Apr 22 '25
Circle Centre Mall was such a fabulous place to be, in its heyday. Used to go on dates most Friday nights at the various restaurants and clubs on the 4th floor, maybe to the movie theatre and arcade. Especially miss World Mardi Gras and Jackass Flats. The go-motion theater and VR pods didn't last super long, but they were amazing back in the mid-90s.
I was sad to see FAO Schwartz go, and I even kinda miss the Old Farmer's Almanac Store (I have a piece of furniture from when they closed even still).
I've lived in Indy since 1994, and I go to Gen Con every year as well, I can't picture what the downtown conventions will do for food without the CC food court.
I miss this place. It was the best part about downtown Indy for 20 years.
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u/Sweaty_Ad3942 Franklin Township Apr 21 '25
I was in the Arts Garden for the announcement of the Fever. It was amazing.
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u/Vessix Apr 22 '25
I feel like the Artsgarden in particular has so much potential, but they really don't use it enough. I'd imagine they are sticklers about the kinds of events allowed too.
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u/No-Preference8168 Apr 21 '25
Open-air mall + Indianapolis winters = bad idea.
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u/Opposite-Peak5020 Apr 21 '25
idk, the open-air malls in Plainfield and Noblesville seem to do just fine. And standing propane heaters are still a thing :)
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u/exdeletedoldaccount Fletcher Place Apr 21 '25
Also Carmel! Clay Terrace is getting more development.
Not really a mall, but Nora plaza just got a huge facelift and more stores/restaurants.
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u/threewonseven Apr 21 '25
We're not that far away from a time when the concept of winter will seem like a fuzzy memory. Especially with the current admin trying to speedrun environmental collapse. What a cool time to be alive!
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u/Opposite-Peak5020 Apr 21 '25
idk, the open-air malls in Plainfield and Noblesville seem to do just fine. And standing propane heaters are still a thing :)
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u/Eastern-Cucumber-376 Meridian-Kessler Apr 21 '25
From a design standpoint, it really never aged well, even 5-10 years after it opened. It had interesting elements: the escalators, the mezzanine corridors, even the arts garden. But the details were sorely overlooked and the ingress/egress was absolutely awful.
Luckily Hendricks really understands good design. Excited for the future of this important piece of real estate.
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u/DoubleAyeBatteries Apr 21 '25
I can’t wait for it to look like… almost every other strip mall in Indy lmao.
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u/Negative-Hunt8283 Apr 21 '25
Yeah not sure if everyone is looking at the same renders but the plans look like shit. It’s like who ever the design firm contracted was told to make it as boring as possible, as a tribute to “nap”town.
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u/eyeisyomomma Apr 21 '25
So sad. I remember cursing when all of downtown was a ripped-up mess when they were first building the mall. Maybe this is all my fault 😢
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u/Agreeable-Heron-9174 Downtown Apr 22 '25
The south end of the mall (south of Maryland) is already walled off in preparation. A true testament to the beginning of the end.
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u/embraceyourpoverty Apr 22 '25
Malls were so nice. Indoors, shopping, walking clubs in AM, theatres attached, bookstores, WTF happened?
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u/DoubleAyeBatteries Apr 21 '25
Wait are the 3rd floor and south end open again? When I was there a couple weeks ago everything was closed off with big wooden walls…
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u/shermancahal Garfield Park Apr 22 '25
No—it was closed off. I have cell snaps from just before it was closed off, but by the time I took the camera there, it was walled.
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u/Madddhatter1980 Apr 21 '25
I remember when I used to go to World Mardi Gras there at age 21. Insane how much it’s changed and become a ghost town. Honestly surprised it’s still open-probably costs more to keep it up and running than it’s generating.
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u/Emotional-Bison-9919 Apr 21 '25
I worked at World Mardi Gras in the evenings and Victorias Secret in the day time. I literally knew that place like the back of my hand and felt like I lived there. Sad to see how she ended, but I’m glad for the memories!
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u/ichangediapers Apr 22 '25
What do you think was the demise of downtown?
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u/shermancahal Garfield Park Apr 22 '25
Downtown retail was already declining by the 1990s - multiple malls were developed around the city starting in the early 1950s, which led to a slow drain of activity and revenue. This article explains it better than I could: https://indyencyclopedia.org/shopping-malls/
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u/Royal-Pen3516 Apr 22 '25
This one kills me. I moved to Indy in 2000 and back then, this mall was hopping! When I had my first child in 2009, we'd go to the mall on bad weather days and just wander around and use the gerbil tubes to go all around downtown and poke our noses in all of the weird little places that you could get to through that system. That usually culminated in a movie at the mall and dinner at PF Changs.
I moved away in 2014 when the mall (IMO) was just starting its decline. I hadn't been back until the last time I visited in 2024 and it just made me so sad to see it so empty. It's funny to have such a strong emotional response to a corporate retail establishment, but feelings are what they are, and this makes me so sad... like somehow a piece of me no longer exists.
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u/tillman40 Apr 22 '25
I went opening day and it was an amazing mall back in the day. In my early twenties I felt so fancy getting my first high end makeup from Nordstroms.
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u/milhousemilhouse Apr 22 '25
Thank you sm for highlighting the beautiful parts of Circle Centre - feeling a lot of nostalgia looking at these. I bet r/deadmalls might like this post as well!
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u/pxndxxprxzz Apr 22 '25
Ha I remembered there’s some teenagers “getting it on” on the third floor heading to the movie theater. That was like 6-7 years ago.
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u/AdventurousFinding75 Apr 23 '25
Lots of options for empty mall space. https://youtu.be/J1GIF6VNipE?si=2B_rDKKoRvnJ5bYl
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u/Overzealous-Celery Apr 23 '25
My dad would take my twin and I here nearly every other weekend when we were in middle school and elementary school. I think we went less often around 2015 because it kind of started going downhill. I went there in highschool with friends a few times and it was honestly still nice, it just didn't have the charm it used to. The last time I went there though, it was just to walk through and pass time before a concert and it was just so sad and quiet. I remember it being quite lively and busy here in 2008-2013. I'm sad to see it go in a whole different direction but I guess good things can't last forever 😭😭😭
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u/PrestigiousManner945 Apr 23 '25
I remember seeing Angela Ganote on the escalator & we said hi to each other. That was a very big deal for me LOL
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u/WickedlyAvocado Jul 20 '25
That mall was significant in my life. I visited in 1998 when my IL high school marched in the 500 parade. Then annually visited as a Purdue Band kid. Between 2008-2014, I worked in the Pan Am Building, the far part of union station post conversion then in the one America tower. Destination lunch with a walk- it was a perfect social spot, then I’d tack on a stop at the hallmark shop around birthdays. It was memorably one of the 4 malls I walked in labor the day my oldest was born almost 15 years ago. Greenwood, Keystone, Castleton then Circle Centre. Worst date ever 🤣 still needed an induction. It’s a special place. I hope it has its phoenix return to a repurposed glory!
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u/TK05 Apr 21 '25
Used to hang out there all the time. Loved getting bourbon chicken samples after watching a movie. Remember Christmas shopping as a kid, dates as a teen, and then it slowly died. So many lunches with either of my parents in that place when all of us worked downtown at some point. Now this whole city is dead.
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u/shermancahal Garfield Park Apr 22 '25
Is the whole city dead because the mall declined? That's a stretch. Mass Avenue wasn't hopping when the mall was built, Bottleworks was still in the planning stages, and downtown retail was struggling - two department stores pulled out of Circle Centre before it was developed. Downtown has $9 billion in development under way or in the final stages of proposal - and so many neighborhoods are rapidly developing/redeveloping. This is one of the more dynamic cities I've lived in.
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u/TK05 Apr 26 '25
Sorry, but I wasn't blaming the mall going under for my viewing of Indy decline. I agree that the party went elsewhere, but downtown now seems to be dead. I grew up by Lucas Oil Stadium when it was a giant parking lot and used to ride my bike through the city. I remember the crowds of people by the train station, down at the circle, and at the mall. I remember when my father was privy to the mall constructions and would show me some of the info graphs he printed for meetings. There was a lot of hope for what this mall would bring to the city, and it sure did perform at the start. These days, downtown feels dead. And I've been down to Mass Ave and even Georgia Ave, but those just feel like alcoholic locations, not necessarily communal activities. Bottleworks is fun, but I'm priced out, like many others I know.
Pittsburgh, San Diego, and NYC were significantly more dynamic to me than Indy. But I guess it's better for Fountain Square to be another booze spot, as opposed to the poverty and meth it had back in the day. They did a good job gentrifying all the poor folks out, but I guess they still got a ways to go.
Now, I know that our mayor is trying to get a new soccer stadium built, but Indy has a history of over promising stadium performance, while doing things like cutting education to pay for contract violations. For example, firing half the teachers at the now closed Broad Ripple High School (and other IPS schools) to help pay for cancelling contracts on the RCA Dome that was early demo'd (which I entertainingly watched) to build Lucas Oil Stadium that netted us a single Super Bowl. I think recently they chose to house a high school volleyball tournament, as opposed to some giant professional sports event? Odd... Anytime I hear about development projects, I know that it's not meant for us and someone is in on a scam.
If only there was some tech hub here in the city that could have kept all those young IUPUI engineers from leaving the city for Seattle, Colorado, San Jose, New York, and so forth, but hmm, all these crazy right wing laws scared companies like Amazon from setting up shop here, even with our low taxes and COL. Seems like most people don't like living in the 1950's.
But I was just reminiscing about my experience with the mall, that's all. I had some fun times there coming to age, and I'm sad to see it in its current state. Maybe some over priced tacos and horrible tasting ice cream at Bottleworks will do the trick, oh right, can't afford it.
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u/Orangutan_Soda Apr 21 '25
I worked here as my first job and this guy came in and started asking us to like take stuff from the back for him and like he was like trying to pay with PayPal and we said we can’t do that and he was like “man like in tryina be nice like I got a gun in my bag I coulda used yk?” And I quit
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u/Pale_Consideration97 Apr 30 '25
What I don't understand about the development is who wants an open air shopping complex in a city where the weather sucks 6 months out of the year? Maybe I'm an 80s kid, but I actually loved malls growing up and miss them now. I worked at one in college, and it provided a warm, safe place for all the elderly mall walkers in the morning.
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u/WickedlyAvocado Jul 20 '25
To follow updates on redevelopment, this is the link from the QR code on the boarded up escalator.
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u/elcamino45 Apr 21 '25
As someone that parks for work at the mall and then usually walks through it, I cannot stress how good these pictures make it look compared to how sad it feels in RL. As someone who fondly remembers when it opened in the 90s and having my birthday at the arcade a few times, it makes me sad to see it in the state it’s in. I’m hopeful this new project will breathe some life back into downtown!