South Green River Road and Washington Avenue
Evansville, Indiana
The first shopping mall in "Eville" was also the Hoosier State's original enclosed shopping center. WASHINGTON SQUARE, designed by Evansville's Hironimus-Knapp & Given firm, was developed by the city's Erie Investments, Incorporated. The complex was built on 38.5 acres, located 4.2 miles southeast of the downtown district.
Comprised of a single retail level, the 322,000 square foot facility was likened to an exciting Disneyland and heralded as a new era of shopping. One of the first operational stores, a 1-level (64,000 square foot) Sears, opened its doors on October 10, 1963. The (18,000 square foot) Sears Auto Center, built as a freestanding structure, had opened for business a few days before the debut of the main store.
A mall-wide grand opening was held on October 31, 1963. The ceremony was attended by Frank MacDonald (Mayor of Evansville) and Vicky Carole Brown, "Miss Evansville College." Miss Brown cut a ceremonial rose ribbon. Music was provided by the Harrison High School Band. Charter WASHINGTON SQUARE stores included Three Sisters ladies' wear, Benton's Tweed Shop, The Swiss Colony, Mary Lester Fabrics, Kinney Shoes, Libs Candies, Washington Square Drug and a (14,000 square foot) A & P supermarket.
Work commenced on an expansion of Sears in August 1966. A second floor, built as part of the original store but not put into use, was opened. Moreover, a 2-level (33,000 square foot) addition was constructed on the north side. The enlarged store was dedicated on October 2, 1967, Sears now encompassed 97,000 square feet.
Ground was broken for a mall expansion on March 18, 1968. A 3-level (135,000 square foot), Louisville-based Stewart's was being built on the south end of WASHINGTON SQUARE. The shopping concourse was also extended to the new anchor store; this adding 27,000 square feet of retail in eight tenant spaces.
Stewart's opened its doors on May 7, 1969. New inline stores were dedicated between May and November. Among these were Magnavox Home Entertainment Center, Orange Julius, Adrian's Gateway to Fashions. Levinson's Brass Lantern Men's Shop, and Baynham's shoes & apparel. When construction dust settled, the shopping hub covered approximately 517,000 leasable square feet and contained thirty-six stores beneath its roof.
The Carrols Development Corporation Washington Square I & II showed its first features on January 12, 1973. It was a freestanding structure built across the street from the mall's southeast parking area. The venue closed on February 28, 1988. After serving as a church and then nightclub, the building was demolished in the mid-1990s.
Meanwhile, WASHINGTON SQUARE had encountered a formidable competitor in the early 1980s. EASTLAND MALL {1.3 miles northwest, in Evansville} welcomed its first shoppers in August 1981. This new retail center siphoned a great deal of trade from its older counterpart. In 1983, Evansville-based Regency Property Management acquired WASHINGTON SQUARE.
Meanwhile, WASHINGTON SQUARE had encountered a formidable competitor in the early 1980s. EASTLAND MALL {1.3 miles northwest, in Evansville} welcomed its first shoppers in August 1981. This new retail center siphoned a great deal of trade from its older counterpart. In 1983, Evansville-based Regency Property Management acquired WASHINGTON SQUARE.
As a keeping up with EASTLAND measure, Regency announced a multi-faceted mall expansion and renovation in April 1986, with construction commencing in July. As part of the 30 million dollar project, Sears would be enlarged for a second time, a 50,000 square foot East Wing built, a new main entrance carved out of existing store space and Teflon-tent-covered Festival Food Court installed. Lastly, the complex would be given an indoor-outdoor face lift.
A "grand re-opening" commenced on August 5, 1987. WASHINGTON SQUARE now housed approximately 541,000 leasable square feet. Stores introduced to the mall included Fashion Bug, Serendipity Ice Cream & Yogurt, Deb Shop, Things Remembered, World Bazaar and Pass Pets. Several existing stores were also relocated, such as Marian's Card & Gift Shop, Records, Tapes & Tickets, Libs Candies and Gordon's Jewelers.
The revitalized shopping hub was successful for a time, but EASTLAND MALL eventually prevailed. Over the years, the south anchor at WASHINGTON SQUARE would be rebranded and repurposed a number of times. During its first conversion, the Stewart's store morphed into an Indianapolis-based L.S. Ayres. This change took place on November 1, 1985.
In the spring of 1991, mall management shot themselves in the foot, so to say, by instituting a 10 dollar "mall walkers registration fee." After receiving national media attention -all negative- the fee was dropped in August.
L.S. Ayres was shuttered on January 19, 1992. Dayton-based Elder-Beerman opened in the space on October 16, 1993. They pulled out of the mall in December 2000. Filling the vacancy proved challenging. Evansville's Eugene Hahn and Paul Kite acquired the shopping center in March 2002.
They retenanted the empty south anchor space by opening Values Unlimited, a discount outlet, in October 2004. This endeavor was unsuccessful and the space was vacant again by March 2007. There was talk, in 2009, of a local church leasing the empty anchor. This never happened. What did was a reinvention of the vacant store as a 500-stall mall within a mall. Merchant Outlet Mall opened for business July 2, 2010... but closed June 30, 2012.
Mall owners hired the BRR Architecture firm to conceptualize a redevelopment of the past-its-prime property into an open-air grocery-anchored facility. The plan was to reconfigure all retail space toward the outside. The existing Sears would remain as is. The vacant south anchor, and a section of the south mallway, would be demolished and a (65,000 square foot) Schnucks supermarket built.
The new strip center would have housed 406,800 leasable square feet and included retail, restaurant, medical and office space. Unfortunately, Schnucks backed out of the plan in February 2015, in effect, throwing a monkey wrench into the entire project.
A clandestine, New York State company acquired WASHINGTON SQUARE in November 2016 and recruited Hahn Kiefer Real Estate Services to manage the property. It was announced that renovation work would soon begin. By April 2017, with no work underway, it was surmised that this renovation had also been abandoned. The shuttering of Sears, in April 2018, presented an additional stumbling block to the mall's reinvention.
In the spring of 1991, mall management shot themselves in the foot, so to say, by instituting a 10 dollar "mall walkers registration fee." After receiving national media attention -all negative- the fee was dropped in August.
L.S. Ayres was shuttered on January 19, 1992. Dayton-based Elder-Beerman opened in the space on October 16, 1993. They pulled out of the mall in December 2000. Filling the vacancy proved challenging. Evansville's Eugene Hahn and Paul Kite acquired the shopping center in March 2002.
They retenanted the empty south anchor space by opening Values Unlimited, a discount outlet, in October 2004. This endeavor was unsuccessful and the space was vacant again by March 2007. There was talk, in 2009, of a local church leasing the empty anchor. This never happened. What did was a reinvention of the vacant store as a 500-stall mall within a mall. Merchant Outlet Mall opened for business July 2, 2010... but closed June 30, 2012.
Mall owners hired the BRR Architecture firm to conceptualize a redevelopment of the past-its-prime property into an open-air grocery-anchored facility. The plan was to reconfigure all retail space toward the outside. The existing Sears would remain as is. The vacant south anchor, and a section of the south mallway, would be demolished and a (65,000 square foot) Schnucks supermarket built.
The new strip center would have housed 406,800 leasable square feet and included retail, restaurant, medical and office space. Unfortunately, Schnucks backed out of the plan in February 2015, in effect, throwing a monkey wrench into the entire project.
A clandestine, New York State company acquired WASHINGTON SQUARE in November 2016 and recruited Hahn Kiefer Real Estate Services to manage the property. It was announced that renovation work would soon begin. By April 2017, with no work underway, it was surmised that this renovation had also been abandoned. The shuttering of Sears, in April 2018, presented an additional stumbling block to the mall's reinvention.
Goodwill Industries of Evansville purchased the abandoned Sears in late 2020. The building would be repurposed as a corporate headquarters, expanded Thrift Store and Excel Center adult learning facility. Renovation work began in May 2023 and was finished in early 2024.
Sources:
The Evansville Courier-Press (Evansville, Indiana)
https://www.flickr.com / Mike Kalasnik's Washington Square Photo Stream
http://movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
The Evansville Courier-Press (Evansville, Indiana)
https://www.flickr.com / Mike Kalasnik's Washington Square Photo Stream
http://movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
http://cinematreasures.org
www.civic.evansville.net
Washington Square Mall Commercial (1989) - Evansville, Indiana / You Tube /
Vandergurgh County, Indiana property tax assessor website
www.brrarch.com / BRR Architecture
http://arc-construction.com / Arc Construction Company
Washington Square Mall Commercial (1989) - Evansville, Indiana / You Tube /
Vandergurgh County, Indiana property tax assessor website
www.brrarch.com / BRR Architecture
http://arc-construction.com / Arc Construction Company
https://www.14news.com / WFIE-TV
https://my1053wjlt.com / WJLT-Radio
"Washington Square" article on Wikipedia
"Washington Square" article on Wikipedia
