Esplanade Mall Breaks Ground
In August 1983, heavy machinery rolled onto West Esplanade Avenue as Cadillac Fairview began construction on a vast new mall.
The Canadian developer planned 967,000 square feet of retail space with twin levels and skylights designed to bring sunlight across wide halls.
By the summer of 1985, polished concrete and glass ceilings framed a clean interior that would soon reshape shopping in suburban Kenner.
The Esplanade Mall opened on October 9, 1985, less than four miles from the airport and fifteen miles from downtown New Orleans.
Anchors D.H. Holmes, Leon Godchaux, and Mervyn's led the roster, joined by a full lineup of national chains.
In 1986, Macy's opened its first Louisiana store inside the new complex.
Café Du Monde served coffee. The mall's food court, set under a grid of skylights, quickly became a meeting point for families and teens.
With about 70,000 residents in Kenner and a trade area of more than 160,000, the opening drew packed crowds.
By that first winter, parking lots filled each weekend and stores kept long hours.
The Esplanade entered the regional map as a bright, enclosed center of suburban commerce.
Anchors Change and Growth Continues
In 1989, Dillard's replaced the D.H. Holmes nameplate above its entrance, keeping the same carved molding and interior layout.
The move followed Dillard's purchase of the New Orleans chain and set the tone for the Esplanade's next decade.
Two years later, the former Leon Godchaux store reopened as a Dillard's Men's Store, linking both wings of the mall with fashion on one side and housewares on the other.
Mervyn's and Macy's balanced the lineup, giving the mall four active anchors and steady weekend traffic.
Electronics Boutique, Waldenbooks, and The Limited filled smaller spaces as the 1990s began.
The concourse stayed bright under its skylights, and merchants operated at near-full occupancy.
General Cinema opened a free-standing Esplanade 9 theater on March 3, 1989, adding a steady flow of moviegoers to the property.
The parking lots filled before evening shows, pulling new customers into the restaurants and small retailers nearby.
Through the late 1990s, the property remained a major retail draw for Kenner.
But by 2003, The Mills Corporation purchased the mall with ambitions to expand.
Plans called for a new Target, Bass Pro Shops, and a state-of-the-art theater complex - ideas that would meet new troubles ahead.
Katrina Hits and Plans Collapse
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept across southern Louisiana, shutting down the Esplanade Mall and most of Kenner's commercial core.
The center reopened by October, but the storm had shifted everything around it.
Whole apartment complexes vanished, and local shoppers moved away or lost jobs.
Sales fell as businesses closed.
In 2006, Macy's left the property, followed by Mervyn's later that year.
The two empty anchors left large, dark halls sealed off from the rest of the mall.
Even as maintenance crews repaired roofs and tiles, the damage was already economic.
The Mills Corporation, still listed as owner, struggled with a major accounting scandal that froze its expansion projects.
Promised additions of Target and Bass Pro Shops stalled before construction began.
By April 2007, Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital acquired the troubled company for $25.25 per share, taking control of the Esplanade Mall and dozens of other Mills properties.
The deal saved the mall from closure but left it waiting for a new direction.
The next phase would test whether national ownership could bring revival.
Simon Years and Partial Recovery
Simon Property Group's arrival in 2007 marked a new start on paper.
For years, the company focused on stabilizing the center while deciding which of the old Mills plans could still work.
Macy's reopened in the mall in October 2008.
The long-vacant Mervyn's building came down in 2010, clearing ground for a new 138,000-square-foot Target store.
Target opened July 24, 2011, giving the Esplanade Mall its first new anchor in decades.
In December 2013, a 49,000-square-foot Regal Grand Esplanade 14 theater opened with stadium seating and digital projection.
The cinema stood on a separate pad facing the main building and drew families back for evening traffic.
Inside the mall, change came slower. Dillard's Men's Store closed in 2011.
The main Dillard's converted to a clearance center in 2012, closing its second level and blocking the upstairs entrance.
By 2017, Macy's closed again during a national downsizing campaign, leaving another large vacancy.
More than half of the inline spaces were empty, and competition from Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie deepened the losses.
Pacific Retail Takes a Turn
Pacific Retail Capital Partners took ownership on September 1, 2016, buying the Esplanade as part of a three-mall portfolio worth more than $200 million.
The company pledged to revive the center with new housing and fresh retail.
In press releases, it spoke of residences and restaurants that would connect with the mall's footprint.
In practice, only minor updates appeared.
365 by Image, a youth-oriented clothing store, opened in March 2016 in the former Dillard's Men's location, briefly using both floors.
The store drew some early curiosity but little sustained traffic.
Elsewhere, the property continued to fade.
Pacific Retail renovated another of its holdings in Mississippi but made no major investment in Kenner.
By late 2018, the Esplanade's vacancy rate stayed high, and city officials looked for signs of follow-through.
In June 2018, Kohan Retail Investment Group bought the mall for $9.25 million, a fraction of its former value.
The sale ended Pacific Retail's short tenure and began an era defined by neglect.
Decline Under Kohan and Storm Closure
Kohan Retail Investment Group took over with a reputation for buying failing malls at steep discounts.
The Esplanade Mall fit that pattern when the company assumed control in 2018.
Under Kohan's ownership, unpaid taxes accumulated, and maintenance dropped.
By 2019, film crews used the interior to capture decline: "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" shot scenes inside, using empty storefronts as a backdrop.
Earlier, "Scream Queens" had filmed at the mall in 2015, its bright corridors already half darkened.
By 2021, only seven inline tenants remained, including Bath & Body Works, GNC, and an Army recruitment office.
The food court closed entirely. Old display windows stayed lit, though the stores behind them had shut down.
The effect was eerie but real - shops staged in stasis for whoever passed through.
On August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana with sustained winds of 150 mph.
The Esplanade closed again and did not reopen.
After the storm, Kenner used the vacant Macy's as a temporary City Hall and hosted a community clinic on the first floor, signaling how far the property had fallen from retail use.
Redevelopment Stalls and Future Unclear
Illinois developer Eddie Ni, through Pacifica Esplanade LLC, bought the closed mall in January 2023 for $10 million.
His Windfall Group planned to convert the two-level structure into a mixed-use complex.
Blueprints proposed 200 to 250 apartments upstairs, another 250 in a nearby outparcel, and retail on the ground floor.
The design called for an open, walkable layout that would replace the enclosed corridors.
Progress soon slowed.
Ownership and tax issues surfaced, including more than $320,000 owed to Jefferson Parish and additional liens tied to the old Macy's building.
Kenner's council questioned the developers' ability to clear debts or finish the project.
On March 30, 2025, the city rejected Windfall's request to subdivide the property for a hotel.
Officials said the land should remain whole to attract a larger redevelopment.
As of 2025, only Target and the Dillard's Clearance Center still operate.
The Regal Grand Esplanade theater continues nearby but functions separately.
Reports that IKEA had shown interest gave the city brief optimism.
A $500,000 study now seeks a path forward for what remains of the Esplanade Mall.