How Oak View Mall opens and takes shape
Oak View Mall opened on October 3, 1991, bringing a new enclosed shopping center to Omaha for the first time in more than twenty years.
The project was developed by Melvin Simon & Associates in partnership with KVI Associates, planned as a two-level regional mall with about 730,000 square feet of space.
The design gathered department stores and specialty retailers inside a single air-conditioned structure, reflecting the city's suburban expansion and growing appetite for national chains.
The grand opening drew a crowd.
Television personality Vanna White appeared at the ceremony, and Younkers held its own ribbon-cutting that same day as one of the mall's first anchors.
Fireworks closed the evening, while shoppers moved through the newly finished corridors lined with bright skylights and storefront glass.
Built at 3002 South 145th Street, the mall opened fully leased, surrounded by surface parking and linked to new housing developments nearby.
Its corridors and central atrium gave Omaha a fresh kind of retail setting, with covered walkways connecting large anchor spaces to smaller tenants.
By the end of the opening week, every lighted sign was on and the new mall was fully operating, signaling the start of Oak View's long run in the city's retail story.
Early tune-ups, new draws, and the first ownership change
In 1993, Oak View Mall's ownership changed hands for the first time.
The property, developed by Melvin Simon & Associates only two years earlier, was sold to entities affiliated with Heitman Retail.
The sale kept the mall's operations intact while shifting long-term management to a new corporate structure.
Leasing remained strong, and the center continued to attract national chains during its early years.
On July 7, 1995, a new Barnes & Noble bookstore opened on land adjoining Oak View Mall, forming the centerpiece of a new outlot.
The store quickly became a steady draw, linking the mall to a growing commercial corridor that continued to develop through the 1990s.
By 1996, Sears entered talks to add a department store at Oak View Mall, further reinforcing the mall's position as Omaha's leading retail hub.
The decade of the 2000s gave Oak View Mall its share of intensity and celebration.
In 2005, a security supervisor stopped a gunman in an attempted mall shooting.
In 2007, the Firefighter's Combat Challenge brought crowds and cameras to the parking lot for a nationally broadcast competition.
By the end of the decade, Oak View Mall stood as a busy retail center preparing to face the coming shifts in national retail trends.
Inline churn signals pressure on the mix
By 2013, Oak View Mall had settled into a new cycle of openings and departures.
Shoe Dept. Encore opened that year inside the mall, taking on a big space and boosting its footwear options.
The timing reflected the early stages of a nationwide retail shift, as chains began shrinking their physical presence.
Closures followed in quick succession.
Between 2015 and 2016, multiple apparel and specialty stores departed, including Wet Seal, Eddie Bauer, Deb Shops, Aéropostale, and Hollister Co. The exits thinned the mall's long-standing base of teen and casual fashion retailers.
Payless ShoeSource and Vanity soon joined the list after their parent companies entered bankruptcy.
Each closure created a more visible vacancy across the concourses that had once been fully leased.
Oak View stayed open through the rough years.
Smaller tenants and local retailers filled a few units, and day-to-day business went on.
No major renovations or expansions were undertaken during this stretch, but the mall's mix shifted toward service uses and value retail.
By late 2016, it still functioned as a regional shopping site, though not in the same way as before.
The next round of losses would be larger, removing two of its main anchors entirely.
Anchors exit and a furniture backfill
In 2018, two long-standing anchors at Oak View Mall closed within months of each other.
Sears ended operations that September as part of a national retrenchment, and Younkers closed soon after when its parent company, Bon-Ton Stores, entered liquidation.
Their departures left the mall without two of its original department stores for the first time since opening, creating large, unoccupied spaces at opposite ends of the building.
The following year, one of those dark anchors reopened under a new use.
In 2019, The Rush Market opened inside the former Younkers store, converting it into a large furniture and home décor showroom.
The layout emphasized open display floors and warehouse-style merchandising, a practical reuse of space that had stood empty for a year.
Its arrival restored customer flow to that section of the property and introduced a locally based tenant into a site previously occupied by national chains.
Throughout 2019, the mall remained open, supported by smaller retailers, restaurants, and service businesses.
No major renovations or capital projects were reported, and the complex continued routine operations.
By year's end, Oak View Mall functioned with a leaner roster and a single new anchor, entering a period of mounting financial pressure that would soon lead to a sale.
Pandemic slump and a distressed sale
Foot traffic slowed to a crawl in 2020.
Stores that had survived earlier shakeups began closing their gates for good, while others shortened hours or shifted to curbside pickup.
The mall's concourse lighting stayed on, but long stretches of glass reflected nothing but vacancy signs.
By October, Oak View Mall's occupancy rate had fallen to 79 percent.
Dillard's and JCPenney remained open, their entrances accounting for most of the day's movement.
In April 2021, new papers were signed.
Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased the property for roughly $7.5 million, transferring control from its previous investors at a fraction of its former valuation.
The sale carried no public redevelopment plans.
The new owner focused instead on keeping operations steady, collecting leases, and avoiding full closure while the national economy strained under pandemic conditions.
After restrictions were lifted, a few businesses reopened inside.
A few service tenants, salons, and food counters reopened, though no major changes were made to the mall itself.
By the end of 2021, Oak View Mall stayed open under Kohan, holding on as another sale neared.
Listed, then repositioned under a new owner
In October 2023, Oak View Mall returned to the market.
After two years under Kohan Retail Investment Group, the property was listed for sale amid falling occupancy and minimal capital investment.
The search for a new buyer concluded two months later when 4th Dimension Properties acquired the site in December 2023.
The new ownership immediately signaled a strategic shift.
Plans focused on adding restaurants, service businesses, and entertainment to broaden the visitor base beyond traditional shopping.
The vision sought to stabilize foot traffic and refresh leasing options for the vacant anchor areas.
By October 2024, The Rush Market announced the closure of its Oak View Mall store, leaving the former Younkers space empty again.
The closure underscored the need for a new anchor strategy, while Dillard's and JCPenney remained open.
Through late 2024, operations continued with active leasing outreach and regular public access.
Events fill the calendar as anchors plan moves
By early 2025, The Rush Market briefly reopened in the former Sears space at Oak View Mall before announcing its exit that spring.
The store soon after shifted entirely to online auctions, leaving both former anchor spaces vacant as the mall sought new tenants.
In 2025, Oak View Mall turned to programming and new uses to draw steady traffic.
On March 6, Kidlavie announced a 22,000-square-foot indoor family park and restaurant planned for the second level near the former Rush Market space.
The concept introduced a large-scale attraction meant to diversify the mall's tenant mix.
During the summer, Oak View hosted the Omaha Pop Expo on July 5 and 6.
The weekend brought cosplay, celebrity panels, and vendors, with organizers confirming another event for January.
The two-day expo filled the concourses and established the mall as a flexible venue for public gatherings beyond retail.
On September 28, Dillard's confirmed plans to relocate from Oak View Mall to Westroads Mall, with a new store expected in 2027 after expansion at the receiving site.
The decision marked a future loss of one of Oak View's last anchors.
As 2025 closed, Oak View remained open, sustained by temporary events and the promise of family-oriented development still to come.
