Last summer, we learned the old JCPenney at Muncie Mall was slated for demolition. By September, the plan ballooned to JCPenney, Sears, and an abandoned movie theater. Fencing went up, then progress seemed to freeze in place. Yesterday, shocking news spread across social media: the entire mall will be torn down! It’s the end of an era- one that, if I’m being honest, may have lingered longer than it ever should have.
I’ve probably written more about the fifty-six-year-old Muncie Mall than any sane person should. Originally, the shopping center featured W.T. Grant, Britt’s, Sears, and Ball Stores as its major anchors. By the time I was a teenager, it was home to JCPenney, Sears, Carson’s, and Macy’s. One by one, though, they vanished. An off-price outfit called Buyer’s Market moved into the Macy’s space in 2021, but for more than five years now, the mall has stood without a true anchor. With a 92% vacancy rate1, it’s long been the shell of a retail powerhouse.
Hull Property Group, which purchased the mall in 20242, seems to agree. In an Indiana Public Radio story published yesterday, Hull’s Senior Vice President of Government Relations, John Mulherin, said that “all we know is it’s not going to survive as it is. It has to be demolished completely3.”
Hull’s original plan, removing the 105,000 square foot JCPenney anchor block, would have created three outparcel spots, perhaps including a 7,000-square-foot sit-down restaurant and another three-tenant building4. After the removal of Sears and the old three-screen cinema, Hull identified a total of seven opportunities for new businesses5.
Unfortunately, things have changed. “I know for a fact there are three major retailers that are looking at the Muncie market,” Mulherin continued, “but they’re not coming to the mall. We’ve talked to them. They’re not coming to the mall in its current configuration6.”
According to a Hull Property Group presentation, the company will demolish 527,000 square feet of the mall -everything except Buyer’s Market, which is separately owned- and reconfigure the site to front McGalliard Road, Muncie’s primary commercial artery7.
Phase 1 of the company’s plan includes a fast-food outparcel near Panera, a family restaurant to the east that I hope becomes MCL, and two more fast-food restaurants facing Granville Avenue. It also includes a healthcare/mixed-use building on the site of the vacant Elder-Beerman store8.
Phase 2 would push development west with a new hotel and two additional retail stores. Phase 3 ups the ante: a national warehouse club with its own fuel center just north of the old JCPenney footprint! Over time, apartments are expected to join the mix to turn what was long a single-purpose place into somewhere people can shop, dine, and even live9.
While demolition on the vacant anchor stores may begin as early as March, the rest of the inline space will stay put until the last tenant leaves. According to Hull, that’s a process that could take six months to two years10. Here’s hoping that Books-A-Million sticks around nearby.
Nostalgia aside, Muncie Mall was designed for a different time. In 1970, most shopping took place indoors, big department stores pulled in regional crowds, and one enclosed building could function as the community’s primary retail hub. That world faded slowly, then all at once, but the mall lingered long after the model stopped working. The coming demolition may feel abrupt. In many ways, though, it simply acknowledges what should have been obvious for years.
What replaces it won’t look like the mall many of us remember, and it isn’t meant to. Instead of turning inward, Hull’s new plan opens the site to more relevant rhythms of daily life. The mall’s story may be ending, but the property isn’t disappearing; it’s being rewritten. Just like the generations who grew up walking its corridors, Muncie itself will move on to something new.
Sources Cited
1 Weichmann, S. (2026, February 26). IPR: Muncie Mall to be fully demolished. Indiana Public Radio [Muncie]. Web. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
2 Mulherin, J. (2024, January 31). Hull Property Group Acquires Muncie Mall. Hull Property Group [Augusta]. Press Release.
3 Weichmann, S. (2026, February 26). IPR: Muncie Mall to be fully demolished. Indiana Public Radio [Muncie]. Web. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
4 Kramer, R. (2025, September 21). The Muncie Mall is about to change in a big way! Hull Property Group, a Georgia developer that owns 27 [Facebook]. Video.
5 (See footnote 4).
6 (See footnote 2).
7 Redevelopment (2026, February 26). Hull Property Group [Augusta]. Presentation. Web. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
8 (See footnote 6).
9 (See footnote 2).
10 (See footnote 2).
I hope they can make it work. Muncie deserves some good news.
End of an era…sad to see it go! I feel like it is similar to the streaming debate currently creeping in. Everyone jumped to streaming because it was the “it” thing to do, and slowly the prices moved up making people ask why did we leave cable? Sometimes it is nice to have a one stop shop.