Read time: 8 min.

I wrote about the forlorn, mostly vacant Washington Square Mall back in April, and my verdict wasn’t pretty. Since then, though, a months-long effort to imagine a future for the property has reached its first major milestone. Monday evening, planners unveiled an ambitious vision for the property’s future. Could one of Indiana’s most troubled malls actually have one of those?

In 1974, Washington Square became the third Indianapolis-area mall developed by Edward J. DeBartolo, after 1967’s Lafayette Square and 1972’s Castleton Square. On Indianapolis’ east side, Washington Square competed directly with Simon’s nearby Eastgate Consumer Mall, eventually outlasting its rival after Eastgate reinvented itself as an outlet center before closing in 2004.

Washington Square opened with a 154,000-square-foot L.S. Ayres¹ and a 105,000-square-foot William H. Block as its anchors². J.C. Penney’s 218,400-square-foot behemoth opened in 1975³, followed by a 198,000-square-foot Sears that August⁴. A fifth anchor, Lazarus, opened in 1978⁵. Washington Square was enormous! It’s still enormous today, but the mall is mostly empty. The problem isn’t a lack of space; it’s finding a new purpose for all of it.

Target -which replaced Montgomery Ward which itself replaced Block- is no longer accessible from inside the mall. A new Dick’s Sporting Goods replaced Lazarus, but it closed too and is now home to a variety store called Chacharas Chuchín. The old L.S. Ayres converted to Macy’s, but now the place is known as Furniture Corner. More accurately, it’s “FU NITURE CORNER.”

Today, Target and the detached AMC theater are the mall’s biggest remaining draws. Much of the rest of the complex is boarded up or covered in graffiti. That’s where City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart came in. After months of market analysis and community feedback, he and the architectural firm Schmidt Associates presented their findings to more than a hundred and fifty members of the community⁶. 

The proposal seeks to transform the site into a ninety-four-acre mixed-use development simply called “Washington Square,” and deliberately dropping the word “Mall⁷.” Roughly the size of the Indiana State Fairgrounds, it would include a sports complex with indoor baseball or pickleball, a medical facility, adult education spaces, dining, and housing including rental townhomes. The site would also feature pedestrian paths and green spaces. For fans of retail, Target, AMC, and a nearby Kroger would remain. Abandoned sections of the mall proper, though, would be removed to join the transformation⁸.

The proposal would also connect the site to the Pennsy and Grassy Creek Trails. Potentially, the site could even include an amphitheater and room for a farmers’ market and food trucks⁹. Most importantly, the development would place heavy focus on retaining the community’s identity without leading to gentrification¹⁰. 

Schmidt Associates’ study confirmed that the east Indianapolis market no longer supports the property’s future as a traditional shopping mall¹¹, a conclusion that anyone who’s been there since 2018 or so could easily have offered. “We’ve got to be able to re-envision this thing for something new,” Hart said. “There’s a lot of parking space. I mean, there’s so much parking space that can all be built up. And that’s where the opportunity lies for the entire site¹².” 

Of course, this is all pie-in-the-sky preliminary right now. The mall’s for sale¹³, but parts of the property are reportedly controlled by seventeen separate entities, at least according to WTHR¹⁴. Those groups could be part of the new development, or not, but organizers have noted that their new plans aren’t final. Investors still have to be found, the ownership issues need resolved, and the community will continue to help shape the proposal¹⁵. 

Is there anything to this? Across town, Lafayette Square Mall has been in redevelopment since 2021 with little to show for it aside from a fresh coat of paint¹⁶. Meanwhile, Circle Centre has been undergoing another transformation for a little more than a year now¹⁷. Clearly, Washington Square isn’t the first dying supermall anyone has tried to reinvent. The strongest successful comparison may be Belmar, the former Villa Italia Mall in Lakewood, Colorado. It occupied nearly a hundred acres and featured 140 stores before its decline in the 1990s¹⁸. The mall was shuttered and demolished in 2001, then built back up as Lakewood’s new downtown, Belmar¹⁹. 

Belmar’s developer says the old Villa Italia site went from Lakewood’s highest-crime property to the highest-value residential area in Jefferson County, becoming a national model for mixed-use development in the process²⁰. Regardless of the company’s marketing spin, Belmar has undeniably become a thriving district rather than another forgotten redevelopment proposal. Hundred-acre dead malls can be replaced successfully, it seems, but, at least in Belmar’s case, they require conditions Washington Square may not yet have.

Belmar wasn’t unique. Similar redevelopments have taken shape in Austin and Houston, and they all share several characteristics. To follow Belmar’s path, though, Washington Square would likely need several things: unified ownership, an experienced master developer, significant public investment, a street network instead of endless parking lots, and enough housing and employment to support restaurants and retail. Just as importantly, it would require patience. Projects like these aren’t completed in a year or two!

The Washington Square property has several of those things going for it, but I see three conspicuous weaknesses. The first problem is focus. The plan contains almost everything! That might make for an appealing wish list, but all those elements don’t form an economic development plan. Whoever comes in and starts to figure Washington Square out will have to identify which two or three uses can be financed and get going on a first phase.

The second roadblock I see is certainty. At this stage, the proposal is still so preliminary that it has neither a principal developer nor a committed institutional or new employment anchor²¹! Target, AMC, and Kroger provide for people already nearby, but none of them is positioned to drive any greater redevelopment since many locals choose to shop elsewhere²².

The third is ownership: even a sound redevelopment concept can stall when an anchor owner, mall owner, lender, outlot owner, or easement holder refuses to participate. There’s already been confusion about who owns what or whether one portion or another is actually for sale²³. 

I’m no expert, but while the vision behind Washington Square is compelling, the ingredients that made Belmar and other examples in Texas work aren’t quite there just yet on the east side of Indy. Still, the most encouraging aspect of the proposal is that it finally stops allowing a dead mall to rot away and starts treating the property for what it really is: ninety-four acres of valuable urban land. If that vision ever becomes reality, very little of Washington Square Mall will remain. At this point, that may be exactly what’s needed.

Sources Cited
1 Ayres’ Washington Square Is 11th In Family Of Department Stores (1974, October 16). The Indianapolis Star. p. 52. 
2 Block;s Store Styled For Convenience (1974, October 16). The Indianapolis Star. p. 56. 
3 Penney’s Under Construction (1974, October 16). The Indianapolis Star. p. 57.
4 Sears, Roebuck Store Is Opened At Washington Square (1975, August 13). The Indianapolis News. p. 60. 
5 Lazarus Washington Square Grand Opening Sale Thursday, Friday, Saturday (1978, August 3). The Indianapolis News. p.  5. 
6 Rhoades, E. (2026, August 4). ‘Guide’ for future developers on Washington Square Mall shared in study. WTHR [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026. 
7 Sandoval, C.(2026, August 3). New plans unveiled for Washington Square redevelopment. WRTV [Indianapolis]. Web. retrieved August 4, 2026. 
8 (see footnote 7)
9 (See footnote 6).
10 (See footnote 6). 
11 Lewis, M. (2026, July 28). Study finds Washington Square Mall property has strong potential for something new. FOX59 [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026. 
12 (See footnote 11). 
13 (See footnote 11). 
14 (See footnote 6). 
15 (See footnote 7). 
16 “Window to the World” development will replace Lafayette Square Mall. FOX59 [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026. 
17 Sergio & Kostiuk (2025, April 1). $600 million redevelopment of Circle Centre Mall moves forward. WTHR [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
18 Turnaround case study: Belmar, Lakewood, Colo. (2019, November 18). International Council of Shopping Centers [New York]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026.  
19 That’s Why They Saved The Bricks: A History of Villa Italia Mall (2024, March 15)). History Colorado [Denver]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026. 
20 Belmar History (n.d.). Continuum [Denver]. Web. Retrieved August 4, 2026. 
21 (See footnote 6).
22 (See footnote 7).
23 Wooten, T. (2025, October 30). Is Washington Square Mall for sale? Here’s what the owner says. Indianapolis Business Journal [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 4 , 2026.