The Point at Carlisle Plaza: 1964 start
The Point at Carlisle Plaza opened in 1964 at 800 E High St on the old Albion Point estate. It was a new kind of commercial center for Carlisle, laid out as an open-air plaza with surface parking stretching in front of the storefronts.
That same year, the Giant Company added its second Carlisle Food Market to the plaza. The grocery became the first anchor, drawing regular shoppers and making the property part of local routines almost from the start.
The early plaza had a straightforward look. One story of shops featured a wide parking lot, with each unit having its own entrance. Customers moved directly from car doors to shop doors, without covered walkways or common concourses.
Construction was practical, with low rooflines, brick storefronts, and minimal ornamentation.
The design left space for larger pads at the edges, setting the stage for later anchors like department stores or freestanding boxes.
The address gave the site a fixed identity that stayed in use even as major rebuilds followed.
In the 1960s, its location tied it closely to surrounding neighborhoods and regional road traffic.
By the end of that first decade, Carlisle Plaza had already outgrown its original plan.
The early addition of a grocery anchor showed the strength of the site, and the coming enclosure pointed toward the next chapter in its life.
From plans to a sealed concourse, 1968-1976
By 1968, Carlisle Plaza was slated for an overhaul. Developers wanted to follow the national retail trend of enclosing open-air strips into climate-controlled malls.
Crown American, a Johnstown-based company, moved forward with the project and mapped out construction phases through the early 1970s.
The plan was to preserve the plaza's location while expanding the footprint and creating an interior concourse.
This shift was designed to increase year-round traffic by giving shoppers a sheltered route between stores.
Parking fields remained in use, but the orientation of retail shifted inward toward common hallways.
The enclosed Carlisle Plaza Mall opened in 1976. It marked the property's transformation from a simple strip center into a regional enclosed mall.
The indoor format allowed more uniform storefronts and brought in larger anchors, setting a new tone for the property.
During the late 1970s, anchor tenants were reconfigured. Town & Country closed, and Kmart moved into the former space, adding a discount department store to the lineup.
Around the same time, JCPenney opened, expanding the department store mix.
The reworked mall stood out from its earlier form. A sealed concourse connected shoppers to major anchors, and the property was firmly repositioned as Carlisle Plaza Mall.
Anchor churn and contractions, mid-1980s to mid-1990s
Through the 1980s, Carlisle Plaza Mall operated with anchors including Kmart, JCPenney, and Bon-Ton.
The three stores balanced discount and department store offerings, while the interior concourse was filled with small tenants.
By the mid-1990s, that balance faltered. Kmart closed its store at the property, leaving a large empty box in the mall's footprint.
JCPenney followed with its own closure, removing a second major anchor and further reducing foot traffic.
Bon-Ton remained, becoming the last department store in operation at the mall.
The loss of two anchors left the interior concourse with fewer points of attraction.
Empty storefronts spread through the common hallways, and the mall no longer had the same pull on regional shoppers.
Smaller tenants found it harder to draw visitors without the steady flow of anchor traffic.
Crown American continued to operate the property during this period, but the site was already entering a phase of decline.
Without Kmart or JCPenney, Carlisle Plaza Mall relied on Bon-Ton as the only department store.
The departure of these anchors created a gap that would not be filled by new national retailers in that decade.
The large, dark spaces set the stage for interim reuse in the years ahead.
Interim reuse and a transfer, 1997-2003
After Kmart's departure, part of the mall's empty anchor space was filled by Albion Point Antiques & Collectibles.
The large antiques retailer operated through the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, using the vacant department store box to house its sales floor.
The presence of Albion Point gave temporary life to the hollowed-out sections of the mall, but it was not a permanent solution.
By 2002, the antiques business closed its Carlisle Plaza Mall location.
The closure left another large vacancy, returning the property to the problem of empty anchor space.
That same year brought a major ownership change.
In November 2002, Crown American sold Carlisle Plaza to Michael Joseph Development Corporation and related entities for $5.8 million.
The transaction ended Crown American's role at the property and put it in the hands of a developer known for repositioning retail centers.
A year later, in August 2003, the property was rebranded. The Carlisle Plaza Mall name was retired, and the site became The Point at Carlisle Plaza.
The new branding matched planned redevelopment efforts aimed at trimming outdated space and adding new anchors.
This transfer marked the turning point from an aging enclosed mall toward a redevelopment project.
Demalling, a new pad, and a sale, 2003-2005
The new owners began by cutting back the property's footprint.
In the early 2000s, about 200,000 square feet of enclosed mall space was removed, including the old Kmart-Albion Point box and the JCPenney building.
The intention was to reposition the site with a smaller interior and new freestanding anchors.
In February 2004, Lowe's opened a new store on a separately owned parcel created by the redevelopment.
Located at 850 E High St, the home improvement store operated independently from the mall itself.
The project cost about $4 million and marked a major change in how the property functioned.
The remaining enclosed portion of the mall was reconfigured into a smaller space, with fewer tenants and a reduced concourse.
It was still marketed under the new The Point at Carlisle Plaza name, but looked much different from its 1976 peak.
In September 2005, Cedar Shopping Centers acquired The Point at Carlisle Plaza. The deal valued the property at roughly $11 million.
That same month, Dunham's Sports opened at Suite 470 inside the mall, giving the center a new sporting goods anchor.
By the end of 2005, the property had been reshaped into a smaller complex anchored by Lowe's and Dunham's Sports.
Grocery-led ownership and an exit, 2012-2019
In fall 2012, Giant Food Stores purchased The Point at Carlisle Plaza through Point Plaza LLC for about $7.35 million.
The ownership change put the center under the control of a grocery chain with longstanding roots in the Carlisle market.
At that point, the property's footprint was about 183,000 square feet, far smaller than the original mall had been before the early 2000s reductions.
Dunham's Sports remained as the principal interior anchor, while Lowe's continued to operate on its separate parcel at 850 E High St.
For several years, the property functioned as a value-oriented retail site with a limited roster of tenants.
The interior concourse was quieter than in past decades, but the center still drew customers with its anchors and service tenants.
The Bon-Ton, which had been the last department store in the mall, announced its closure in 2018.
The Carlisle location shut its doors that year, removing the final traditional department store presence that had survived from the enclosed mall era.
By 2019, The Point at Carlisle Plaza was a modest retail center. Its tenant mix leaned on Dunham's Sports and smaller stores, while the old Bon-Ton box sat empty.
Listings, new pads, and zoning changes, 2024-2025
In March 2024, The Point at Carlisle Plaza was listed for sale as an 11.71-acre property at 800 E High St. The listing excluded the separately owned Lowe's parcel and emphasized redevelopment potential.
The same listing noted a new 10-year ground lease with Burger King.
Construction of a 3,150-square-foot drive-thru restaurant on the site was completed in 2024, adding a new freestanding pad along East High Street.
In April 2025, Carlisle Borough rezoned several parcels covering 650 through 950 E High St, including the mall site, to UM Urban Mixed Use.
The new zoning allowed a broader mix of residential, retail, office, and service uses.
In June 2025, the Borough's Zoning Hearing Board scheduled a public hearing for a special exception request.
The request sought approval for a commercial convenience store on proposed Lot 2 of The Point at Carlisle Plaza.
These moves positioned the property for continued redevelopment while anchors remained Lowe's and Dunham's Sports.
I think it would be nice to have a shoe store(Payless).I live in Carlisle and miss shopping there. a Gabe's and a Burlington coat factory would be nice instead of having to travel to Harrisburg . it sad how the mall went down hill . I loved it and miss it alot
Thank you for your thoughts! It would be so convenient to have those stores in town.