Five Points Mall opens as a strip center
In 1961, North Park Plaza opened as a conventional outdoor strip center at Kem Road and Baldwin Avenue in Marion, Indiana.
Early tenants included W.T. Grant, Woolworth, Hook's Drug Stores, and Standard Supermarket, a basic mix of softlines, variety, and grocery.
By the end of its first year, the property operated as an open-air retail strip with national chains, local tenants, and on-site parking.
The developer was Cafaro Company of Youngstown, Ohio.
The center used the North Park Plaza name in this phase, and it sat on Marion's north side at Kem Road and Baldwin Avenue.
Stores were leased to national chains and local operators.
The lineup included a variety store, a five-and-dime, a drugstore, and a supermarket.
Shoppers reached each storefront from the common parking field, as was typical of an unenclosed strip.
By the close of this opening period, operations were steady in the strip configuration.
The enclosed mall conversion and new department store anchors arrived in 1978, beginning a different phase with interior corridors and a cinema.
Enclosed mall conversion and relaunch
In 1978, the property was expanded, enclosed, and relaunched as North Park Mall.
The shift replaced storefronts facing the parking lot with entries opening to an interior concourse, establishing a climate-controlled format that organized circulation under one roof.
That reopening brought a new three-anchor structure.
JCPenney began operations as a full-line department store, Hills opened its discount department store box, and Meis launched its department store, setting the ends and center points that framed the in-line tenant mix.
A cinema debuted as part of the enclosed plan.
The theater operated inside the building and added scheduled entertainment to the retail environment, functioning alongside the anchor lineup and the smaller shops that opened to the concourse.
The conversion standardized access.
Customers entered through common doors, moved along shared corridors, and reached each merchant from interior walkways.
The mall format also enabled events and promotions within the building rather than in the lot.
By year's end, North Park Mall traded as an enclosed regional center with three department store anchors and a working theater.
The elements were in place for the next phase, when additional large-format space arrived and existing anchor banners began to change.
Anchor churn and additions reshape the mix
In 1990, Sears was added as a fourth anchor.
The new department store box expanded the lineup and established another primary entry, increasing anchor-driven traffic across the interior corridors and the surrounding site.
By the end of the 1980s, the former Meis location operated as Elder-Beerman.
The banner change retained a traditional department store in that position and carried into the 1990s, keeping that side of the plan active with softlines and home goods.
In 1998, the Hills anchor converted to Ames.
The turnover maintained a discount department store in the same footprint while replacing signage, merchandising programs, and the nameplate that had identified the box during the earlier phase.
Late in the decade, the cinema closed.
The former theater was subdivided and repurposed for two uses, with an arcade and a Hibbett Sports opening in the split space, moving square footage from movie exhibition to recreation and specialty retail.
By the close of the 1990s, the mall listed four department store anchors and a reworked entertainment wing.
The following period brought a rebranding and the next run of large tenant changes that would mark the early 2000s.
Rebranding and exits begin to thin the anchors
By the 2000s, the property was marketed as Five Points Mall, a rebranding that replaced the North Park Mall identity on site materials and signaled a new operating name for the enclosed center.
In 2004, the former Hills and Ames anchor was re-tenanted by Steve & Barry's.
The retailer took over the large box, restoring active use to that footprint and keeping a big-format draw in the lineup.
At the end of 2013, Sears closed.
The shutdown removed the fourth department store from the plan and left an anchor vacancy that changed how customers moved through the property.
On January 15, 2014, JCPenney announced the Marion store would close as part of a national reduction.
The decision ended a long-running anchor presence that dated to the mall's 1978 relaunch.
By early 2014, Five Points Mall traded under its newer name with two legacy department stores gone.
The next period turned on how the property absorbed those exits and how remaining tenants adapted to the smaller anchor set.
Department store finale and exterior shift
On January 31, 2018, Bon-Ton announced a set of closures that included Carson's at Five Points Mall.
The store then closed in spring 2018, ending the last department store operation within the enclosed building.
With that exit, the anchor pattern changed.
The year saw exterior-entry formats take on a larger role, led by Planet Fitness operating with its own outside door instead of relying on interior corridors.
Roses continued to trade in the former Hills and Ames footprint, providing a discount anchor presence while large department store banners came off the roster during the year.
By late 2018, only exterior-access tenants carried most of the daily traffic.
This shift concentrated activity at the doors that opened directly to the lot.
Interior closure and limited exterior trade
Early 2019 brought a practical change inside the building.
Sections of the mall corridor were walled off near the former Carson's space, and public access was narrowed to limited paths as in-line merchants adjusted hours and entrances to match the reduced interior circulation.
Later in 2019, the enclosed concourse closed to the public.
Interior hallways no longer connected tenants, and day-to-day movement shifted away from shared corridors that had served shoppers since the 1978 relaunch of the property as an enclosed center.
Roses continued operating through its own exterior door in the former Hills and Ames anchor box.
Customers entered directly from the parking lot to reach the sales floor, allowing the store to function without reliance on interior common areas.
Planet Fitness and Applebee's also remained open to the lot from their doors.
City-led steps toward redevelopment
On August 22, 2025, the Redevelopment Commission approved a $20,000 agreement with Halstead Architects.
The contract called for schematic site plans, floor plans, color renderings, square footage summaries, and a digital flyover for a five-acre small building concept tied to the Five Points Mall site.
On September 26, 2025, commission minutes recorded that Halstead completed scanning and imaging for the Five Points Mall redevelopment project.
The entry placed base documentation on file and set the stage for concept packages and coordination with engineering work that would follow this early mapping.
On October 6, 2025, the city held a public update under the Elevate Marion banner to brief residents on ongoing redevelopment steps.
The session presented the current status and upcoming actions across several efforts, with the mall listed among the projects moving through preliminary planning.
Progress occurred through agreements, deliverables, and meeting calendars rather than construction.
The record pointed to further updates returning to public sessions after these initial work products.
It carried the process from documentation to whichever concept the city chose to advance into detailed design and site work.
