A Grand Opening, A Grand Vision
The doors to Circle Centre Mall opened on September 8, 1995.
It was supposed to be the answer to downtown Indianapolis’s struggling retail scene—a $307 million investment meant to bring shoppers back to the heart of the city.
The project took more than a decade to complete, but when it did, it had everything: two department store anchors, 99 shops, a nine-screen United Artists theater, and a food court spanning the third floor.
Developers didn’t start from scratch. The mall incorporated pieces of the city’s past, keeping seven historic facades from buildings that once stood there.
The L. S. Ayres flagship store, a staple of downtown retail for decades, became part of the structure.
The plan was bold—blending old with new, giving Indianapolis something that felt modern without erasing its history.
The vision was clear: Circle Centre Mall would be the retail centerpiece of downtown.
Nordstrom took one end, and Parisian (later Carson’s) took the other.
Stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, and Coach lined the walkways. The idea was to create an upscale shopping experience—one that could compete with the malls in the suburbs.
When the mall finally arrived, it was the downtown revival project Indianapolis had been waiting for.
For a time, it worked. The shops stayed full, and the food court was packed for lunch. Tourists, convention-goers, and locals all had a reason to come downtown.
It was even a key stop for visitors looking for things to do in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The skyline had a new centerpiece, and for nearly two decades, Circle Centre Mall thrived.
The Mall That Almost Never Was
The idea for a downtown shopping center had been floating around since the late 1970s, but making it happen took decades.
Indianapolis was watching its retail core hollow out. Instead, shoppers were heading to Castleton Square, The Fashion Mall at Keystone, and Greenwood Park Mall.
Something needed to pull them back.
In April 1979, Mayor William Hudnut and Melvin Simon & Associates unveiled plans for a multi-story mall to be built between Meridian Street and Capitol Avenue.
The concept was simple: connect L.S. Ayres and William H. Block department stores to a new retail hub.
But land deals stalled, and by 1983, the plan had to be redrawn. The city decided to move the project south, closer to Washington Street.
The land acquisition became its own battle. The Goodman family, owners of several properties in the area, resisted selling.
Their vision for the site clashed with what developers wanted. Negotiations dragged on for years.
Meanwhile, construction estimates climbed. The budget, originally $100 million, jumped to $650 million by 1988. In 1991, it was projected at $1 billion before scaling back.
By the end of 1990, much of the site had been cleared, but the project was stuck.
For over a year, downtown Indianapolis had nothing but a massive excavation pit—locals called it “the big hole.” A new agreement in September 1991 pushed things forward.
Circle Centre Development Company, a group of 12 local businesses, provided $100 million in private financing, and the city backed the rest.
It took another four years to finish. By September 8, 1995, the grand opening finally happened. It had taken 16 years, but downtown Indianapolis had its mall.
The Fall of a Retail Giant
For years, Circle Centre Mall thrived. The four-story mall had nearly 100 retailers, a food court, and an entertainment level.
Tourists and convention-goers filled the walkways. It felt like a success. Then, things changed.
The first big hit came in 2011 when Nordstrom closed. The store had struggled with declining sales, losing business to its Fashion Mall at Keystone location.
Its departure left a massive gap. For three years, no retailer took its place. In 2014, The Indianapolis Star moved its offices into the space—a newsroom where high-end fashion once sat.
Carson’s followed in 2018. The department store, formerly Parisian, shut down after its parent company, The Bon-Ton Stores, went bankrupt.
When it closed on April 29, 2018, Circle Centre Mall had no traditional anchors left.
Smaller stores started leaving, too. Retailers like Gap, Banana Republic, and Victoria’s Secret shut down. By 2020, much of the mall’s upper levels sat empty.
Theaters and arcades once brought in families, but even those began to disappear. Regal Cinemas closed on October 31, 2024.
Tilt Studio shut down weeks later, on November 20.
Without department stores or entertainment venues, foot traffic dropped. What had once been a retail powerhouse was turning into a ghost mall. The question became—what would take its place?
A $600 Million Gamble
By December 2023, Circle Centre Mall had reached a breaking point. The owners were ready to sell, and Hendricks Commercial Properties stepped in with a plan.
The $600 million redevelopment deal was finalized in April 2024, marking the mall’s biggest transformation since its opening.
The enclosed shopping center would be reimagined as open-air, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use.
The new plan scrapped the idea of a traditional mall. Instead of a single retail space, the revamped site would feature apartments, office buildings, and boutique shopping areas.
Developers wanted a mix of commercial and residential spaces, hoping to bring new energy to downtown.
Housing units would replace anchor stores, with restaurants and offices filling the remaining floors.
Retail, however, would still be part of the equation. Luxury brands weren’t coming back, but small-scale, urban retail spaces were in the works.
The strategy followed national trends—many cities had watched their malls collapse under the weight of changing consumer habits.
The old formula wasn’t working, so developers were looking for alternatives.
The shift wouldn’t be quick. Construction was expected to take a decade, with demolition beginning in 2025.
The transition left existing businesses in limbo. Some chose to stay and wait, while others packed up.
More than a dozen stores closed ahead of the ownership change, leaving empty storefronts and dark hallways.
Despite the new investment, there were still doubts. Would Indianapolis embrace a new version of Circle Centre Mall?
Would shoppers return? The city had seen its downtown transform before, but this time, the stakes were higher.
The Ghost of Circle Centre Mall
By early 2025, Circle Centre Mall looked nothing like it once did. The fourth-floor food court, once packed with diners, had more empty tables than customers.
The old Regal Cinemas and Tilt Studio spaces were dark and locked behind metal security gates. Escalators stood still, and entire sections of the mall felt abandoned.
The exodus wasn’t just from big retailers. Local businesses that had operated in the mall for years were also shutting down.
Owners cited low foot traffic, rising costs, and uncertainty about the redevelopment timeline.
Many weren’t sure if they’d be invited back once construction was finished.
Despite the closures, some tenants still held on. A few national chains, small retailers, and fast-casual restaurants continued to operate.
But without clear direction from the new owners, business wasn’t improving. Storefronts were disappearing faster than new leases were signed.
For longtime visitors, the changes were hard to ignore. The mall, once a destination for tourists and convention-goers, was now half-empty and eerily quiet.
Some sections had become nothing more than passageways for people heading to connected hotels and the Indiana Convention Center.
A $300 million first phase will focus on transforming the enclosed mall into an open-air, pedestrian-friendly district.
Instead of long, dim corridors, the space will feature outdoor plazas, retail-lined streets, and office spaces designed to pull foot traffic back into downtown Indianapolis.
The most dramatic change? A new “Main Street” pedestrian corridor running north to south, cutting through the former mall’s footprint.
The plan also includes a walkway bridge over Maryland Street, reconnecting the site’s split sections.
Developers are betting that creating a street-level, urban environment will bring new life to the struggling property.
Despite these ambitious designs, tenants still don’t have a firm timeline for when demolition or construction will start.
For now, Circle Centre Mall is still standing. But without a firm start date, it remains a blueprint, not a reality.
Notice the extremely small number of white people in the video.
Cities are always shifting. If you filmed a mall 20 years ago and compared it to today, you’d see different faces. That’s just how places grow and change.
I was there for the grand opening of circle center mall. It was probably the greatest thing I ever saw in Indianapolis. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed everything we saw and did I went to Circle center mall at least three times a week sometimes I took my kids and we just walk around and look at stuff we always buy something but it always eat but as things started to change and my kids got older we didn’t go as much the status part about circle center mall was when my friend and I would go and there’ll be all these kids running through there. I mean school-age kids probably closer to teenagers and they were just running through and Not being where they should’ve been and I admired the security there because I used to check him and ask him you know where are you supposed to be at school or something and they tried really hard to keep things under control. In the evening time it was kind of scary sometimes because there would be groups of Teenagers and young adults just loitering around on the outside or inside and things that have made it kind of scary. I know we shouldn’t be afraid of young people, but you know sometimes they do present themselves as intimidating, but I was very disappointed in management when they started allowing things to happen and they weren’t keeping up with stuff. I truly do believe that circle center mall could’ve continued on maybe not in as early glory but you know unacceptable rate if management would have put forth a little bit more effort it may be the city too. You can’t just turn something loose and expect it to grow. There has to be some kind of order to things.
A circle center started to close slow down. I do believe the city tried, tried too hard to push hotels and things in there. We had enough hotels downtown. I know it’s there were times when you couldn’t find a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, but part of that could’ve been the price too, but sometimes you could only push so much and it takes a lot of people to fill all those hotels maybe with better management we could’ve done we could’ve done better. The saddest things was seeing Nordstrom‘s and Parisian leave they had some of the best sales people around. They were people who knew how to treat customers and bring them back. A lot of the other stores like that capability. I truly miss nor I truly Miss Circle Center, Mall. I love going there I loved walking through it. I love shopping there and I always felt pretty secure there in the early years.
I would like to see downtown Indianapolis regaining some of it previous allure, but let’s not go crazy and try and put in 1 million things that one place and I really don’t want to see our city become nothing but a bunch of holes in the street again. I really think of the city would put forth the effort and actually communicating quit trying to Appease everybody in their brother. We could have something marvelous downtown and take care of what we have we still have the face of LS errors the Nordstrom storefront they could make it something pretty something useful something historic put in information about the city of Indianapolis. It’s progression. Let’s not just sell land because we can sell land. I’d really like to see Indianapolis do something that would help everybody you know we have all this space. We could actually make make something wonderful.
You saw Circle Centre at its best when it was more than just a mall—it was a destination, a place where people met up, browsed, ate, and made memories. You were there when it opened, and it felt like the greatest thing Indianapolis had ever seen. And you saw it slowly unravel. It’s frustrating because it didn’t have to happen.
Circle Centre’s decline wasn’t one bad decision—it was a slow failure to adapt. When Nordstrom left in 2011, its customers followed it to The Fashion Mall at Keystone. The mall spent three years searching for a new anchor before settling on a newspaper office—practical but useless for foot traffic.
Carson’s held on longer, but Bon-Ton was collapsing nationwide. The city tried lowering rent, but by 2018, the store was gone, leaving the mall anchorless. This wasn’t just mismanagement—department stores were dying everywhere. The real failure was waiting for retail to recover instead of reimagining the space.
Other malls pivoted, but Circle Centre stalled. By the time, when management saw the shift, it was too late.