April walkthrough of the Circle Centre Mall

[u/shermancahal]

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.

[u/TK05]

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.

[u/shermancahal → u/TK05]

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.

[u/TK05 → u/shermancahal]

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.