A view of the "A" Entrance, facing north. The Wasson's anchor
store was on the right.
Photo from www.deadmalls.com / "IndyMallGuy"
The "D" Entrance, facing south. J.C. Penney would have been on the
right.
Photo from www.deadmalls.com / "IndyMallGuy"
EASTGATE CENTER
East Washington Street / US 40 and North Shadeland Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana
The first mall-type shopping center in the Hoosier State was situated on a 41 acre land parcel, located 5 miles east of downtown Indianapolis, in (then) unincorporated Warren Township / Marion County.
EASTGATE CENTER was initially an open-air complex. It opened in 1957, and was anchored by a 2-level (80,700 square foot), Indianapolis-based H.P. Wasson Company and 1-level (23,115 square foot) [dry goods only] J.C. Penney. There were also a Standard supermarket and G.C. Murphy and F.W. Woolworth 5 and dimes.
The 370,000 square foot complex consisted of an upper level of retail with lower level stores accessed from the north end of the structure. Many tenants also had basement fallout shelters.
Inline stores included Sears Catalogue and Appliance, Thom McAn Shoes, Kinney Shoes, Harry Levinson's and Hudson's men's apparel, National Shirt Shop, Roth's and Morrison's ladies apparel and a Lerner Shop. There was also the Wonderland "kiddie ride" amusement park in the north parking area.
EASTGATE was followed, in 1958, by GLENDALE CENTER [May 2008 archive], which was located 7 miles northwest. However, the opening of the newer shopping center did not negatively impact business at EASTGATE.
In 1970, the Unigov consolidation of the City of Indianapolis and Marion County into one political jurisdiction brought EASTGATE into the physical limits of Indiana's capital city. The mall was still doing well at this time, but trouble was on the horizon.
In 1974, WASHINGTON SQUARE -an enclosed, superregional center- opened only 3 miles east of EASTGATE. It wasn't long before tenants were moving to the newer and more modern facility. This prompted the owners of EASTGATE to enclose and climate-control the 18 year-old shopping center.
In spite of this major renovation, EASTGATE was in rapid decline. Penney's and Sears moved to WASHINGTON SQUARE and area demographics had changed. The Wasson's department store closed in April 1980.
The mall was sold to Indianapolis-based Melvin Simon and Associates (now the Simon Property Group) in 1981. A second renovation was done. This time around, the exterior was given a facelift, with most of the parking lot entrances to stores being sealed-off.
A change in the way the mall was marketed was also undertaken. Its name was changed to EASTGATE CONSUMER MALL, with an emphasis on discount merchandising. Burlington Coat Factory was recruited to fill the empty Wasson's space. Kittle's Furniture went in the old supermarket and several other local businesses took up shop.
The concept of an "outlet mall", before such came into vogue in the 1990s, did well for a time. However, by the early 2000s, the aging EASTGATE had become a dead mall once again. Between 2002 and 2007, the shopping center changed hands four times. Many thought it would be demolished.
However, the ailing property was acquired by a joint venture of Carmel, Indiana-based Lifeline Data Centers and Kingsport, Pennsylvania-based Mark Development in May 2008. A 50 million dollar renovation commenced in July 2008.
Its first phase, completed in mid-2009, involved the conversion of the Wasson's / Burlington Coat Factory building into a computer data center.
Phase two of the project, getting underway in late 2009, will see that the mall concourse is remade into low cost office space, a church and catering company.
Eventually, an 80,000 square foot office structure will be built northeast of the existing mall and much of the front-facing parking area will be returned to greenspace. The completed project will house 450,000 square feet of data center and office space.
Sources:
www.deadmalls.com / Comment Post by Brian
HistoricIrvington.blogspot.com / "Memories Of Days Gone By – Eastgate Mall" / Posted by "MidWestMrs"
"Indianapolis" article on Wikipedia
"Unigov" article on Wikipedia
www.datacenterknowledge.com
http://www.lifelinedatacenters.com
8 comments:
At one point in the 80s-90s there was Phar-Mor at this mall too. I'm guessing it took the old Penney's?
As of now (January 2008), Eastgate is still standing. I drove by it last night, and it is as dead as ever. It was already in decline when I was a child in the late 80's. I remember it as "Eastgate Consumer Mall" when it had discount tenants, such as Burlington Coat Factory. Washington Square Mall is often cited as the reason for Eastgate's decline, but Washington Square has now fallen on hard times as well. As of this writing, the L.S. Ayres/Macy's anchor store is closing.
CB,
Hello Again.
I'm rather surprised to hear that they haven't bulldozed Indiana's first shopping mall.......yet.
At least it has been left alone long enough to have a 50th Anniversary...altho no one was around to celebrate -or even recognize- this fact, I imagine.
As this article implies, it is sure to be razed. Maybe the land (in such a depressed area) is not worth all that much.
And.....Indy probably doesn't need another Lifestyle or Power Center.....as it sure seems to me that these things are being WAY over built....soon to reach the saturation point themselves....
In the near future, we may be seeing "dead" Lifestyle Centers.....especially if they keep tearing down so many malls and converting them to these new-fangled, retail deals.
We shall see, I guess.
Thanks for the update.
Cheers,
Actually Phar-mor was across the street from Washington Square mall.
F & M was the drugstore in Eastgate. I remember when Wasson's was open and there were fountains inside the mall. We would stop and get an ice cream at Bresler's and throw pennies in the fountain. I am only 36 so it hasn't been that long ago.
Anon,
Thanks for the info...and for perusing and posting on the blog.
Cheers,
Phar-Mor was in the mall at one time. It was across from where the furniture store at the end of the south side of the building
Anon,
Thanks for posting the EASTGATE MALL memories.
Cheers,
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