The Mall at Turtle Creek was an indoor regional shopping center in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in Craighead County in the northeastern part of the state.
It stood at the intersection of Highland Drive and Stadium Boulevard on a 73-acre property, with direct access from the main roads serving the greater Jonesboro area.
The mall was the main shopping destination for northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri, drawing visitors from an 18-county region with more than 356,000 people living within 50 miles.
It opened on March 29, 2006, as the only enclosed mall to open anywhere in the United States that year, and remained the only enclosed regional shopping center within a 75-mile radius until an EF3 tornado destroyed most of the building on March 28, 2020.
Before dawn on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Before the doors opened on the morning of March 29, 2006, people were already in line.
Not a few people - a line that stretched from the front entrance of a brand-new shopping mall all the way back to Chuck E. Cheese.
Some had been waiting since 4:30 in the morning. General manager Jason Whitley later said the turnout left him stunned.
By the end of the day, somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 shoppers had walked through The Mall at Turtle Creek in Jonesboro, Arkansas, filling all 3,100 parking spaces.
The first 500 through the doors got gift bags.
That kind of opening did not happen at every new mall. But this one had taken on a particular importance for northeast Arkansas.
Jonesboro had been without a newer super-regional enclosed mall, and the surrounding region - an 18-county draw stretching into southeast Missouri - had few comparable nearby enclosed-mall options.
The Mall at Turtle Creek was the only enclosed mall to open anywhere in the United States in 2006.
From day one, it was a late entry into a format already in decline everywhere else.
Dillard's had soft-opened four days earlier, on March 25. The store was 155,000 square feet across two levels, and it brought Jonesboro its first escalator.
The original Dillard's in town had been operating since 1967 at the Indian Mall.
Dillard's soft-opening sales ranked third-highest in the chain's history at that point.
The Mall at Turtle Creek Began as a $100 Million Project
The project first appeared publicly in March 2004, when Belz-Burrow Development Group and David Hocker & Associates unveiled plans for a roughly $100 million retail center at the corner of Highland Drive and Stadium Boulevard.
Dillard's, JCPenney, and Target had already committed. Victoria's Secret, Gap, and Bath & Body Works were named early as additional tenants.
The project was expected to produce about $225 million in annual sales and tax revenue.
By July 2004, the Jonesboro Metropolitan Area Planning Commission had approved the development.
At that point, the structure was described as 750,000 square feet with an opening target of September 29, 2005. Ground broke in September 2004.
What made the financing unusual was a tax increment financing district - the first one approved in Arkansas.
Five of the district's thirty mills that would otherwise have gone to the Jonesboro School District were redirected into roughly $7 million in site infrastructure, including diverting Turtle Creek itself, improving drainage, and doing road work.
The original opening date slipped. By July 2005, Target and JCPenney were on track to open on October 7, 2005, while the full mall had moved to March 2006.
By October 2005, more than fifty tenants had been announced for the inline space alone, covering national fashion chains, food-court operators, jewelry stores, salons, and family entertainment.
The roster that fall included Aeropostale, American Eagle, Hollister, Hot Topic, and dozens more. Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, and Bed Bath & Beyond were signed as junior anchors.
What Made the Mall Unusual in Its Region
In 2016, the mall totaled 693,600 square feet, with 329,400 square feet of mortgaged collateral space. The three main anchors - Dillard's, JCPenney, and Target - were not part of that collateral.
In addition to the enclosed mall, the campus included outparcel ground-rent tenants: Chuck E. Cheese's, Chili's Grill & Bar, and Chick-fil-A, all operated on separate pads around the perimeter.
The filing said the mall sat within a trade area of more than 254,000 people within 40 miles and more than 356,000 within 50 miles.
It also noted the property was the only enclosed mall within a 75-mile radius. The development represented a $107 million investment tied to roughly 1,500 jobs.
County sales-tax collections were up about 9 percent year over year in the period around the opening, while city sales taxes rose about 7.5 percent.
H&M opened a location at Turtle Creek that the 2016 filing identified as the first and only H&M in Arkansas at the time.
The same filing described average occupancy since 2012 at 95.7 percent, with total trailing-twelve-month sales of about $160.8 million and comparable inline sales of $349 per square foot.
Rouse, Brookfield, and the Ownership Shift
In January 2013, Rouse Properties closed on a $96 million purchase of The Mall at Turtle Creek and an adjacent shopping center from the original partnership, Turtle Creek Partners LLC.
Rouse assumed about $79.5 million in mortgage debt as part of the deal. Around that time, industry data put occupancy at 92 percent and sales at roughly $370 per square foot.
By the mid-2010s, sales had started to stagnate, and occupancy drifted downward, though the mall remained the largest in northeast Arkansas.
Rouse was absorbed into Brookfield Properties in July 2016, when Brookfield Asset Management acquired Rouse and its portfolio, bringing Turtle Creek under Brookfield's control.
A separate major acquisition followed in August 2018 when Brookfield completed its acquisition of General Growth Properties.
The 2016 SEC filing estimated 2015 sales at about $22 million for JCPenney, $27 million for Dillard's, and $35 million for Target - both JCPenney and Dillard's were outperforming their chain averages by significant margins.
March 28, 2020 - The Tornado
The National Weather Service office in Little Rock reported that a powerful tornado arrived in Jonesboro shortly before 5 p.m. CDT on March 28, 2020 - exactly 14 years to the day after the mall's black-tie grand opening gala.
The tornado was classified as an EF3 with a 12.53-mile path, a maximum width of 600 yards, 22 injuries, and roughly $300 million in estimated property damage.
There were no fatalities. Federal reporting noted that COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had reduced normal traffic at the time of the storm.
The mall had been closed that Saturday because of the pandemic. Employees who later saw photos from inside described hanging wires and flooding throughout the enclosed space.
Barnes & Noble's store was destroyed. Journeys was nearly leveled.
Much of the enclosed portion of the mall was wrecked. Dillard's reopened in June 2020. JCPenney followed in August 2020.
Retailers, including Buckle, Shoe Show, Hibbett, and Ulta, either returned to the property or reopened elsewhere in Jonesboro.
Barnes & Noble announced on September 4, 2020, that it would not return to Turtle Creek. Chico's also said it had no plans to reopen there.
Years of Delay Before Demolition Began
In January 2021, Jonesboro declared the eastern section of the property a public hazard and nuisance. The city gave Brookfield 60 days to obtain a demolition permit.
Progress remained slow over the next year. Mayor Harold Copenhaver said the city had limited options because Brookfield was a private owner. Brookfield did not respond.
In 2022, the special servicer in charge of the mall's collateralized inline portion received large insurance payments and started working with the anchor tenants on a potential sale.
Three years after the tornado, the site was still badly damaged.
Then, in late 2022, Spinoso Real Estate Group took over management and said in April 2023 that demolition would start within weeks.
By June 2024, most of the debris was gone. The site had been cleared to a flat tract, with three anchor stores still in place and restaurant outparcels around the edges.
38.89 Acres and a $4.875 Million Auction
The listing that went live in September 2025 covered 38.89 acres. Of that, 30.93 acres were cleared and buildable.
The surviving anchors had agreed to permit roughly 100,000 square feet of new construction within the former mall footprint.
The property carried no debt. Bidding closed September 10. The site sold for $4.875 million.
The buyer was local investor Keith Bayird, closing under the name Turtle Creek Jonesboro, LLC. A separate report tied the purchase to Haag Brown Commercial Development and Real Estate.
The redevelopment plan called for roughly 96,000 square feet in a new open-air building rather than a single enclosed structure.
Lease efforts were aimed at national tenants in 2026, including some who had operated at the mall before the tornado. Construction was targeted to begin the same year.
The September 2025 auction had drawn enough interest to close within days of opening - bidding ran from September 8 to September 10.
Dillard's, JCPenney, and Target remained open on the surrounding land as of April 2026.
