Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis is a total dump and eyesore from the start. There was a security lady on a scooter who immediately threw us out for filming. She then followed us around the building. I used a Google Maps user Kyle C’s photos to show what it looks like on the inside.
The outside is completely deplorable and wrecked. There is trash and weeds at the main entrance, maintenance things being stored right inside the mall, as well as the sign is missing the W right at the main entrance. What a weird and off putting place.
The most prominent super-regional mall under this name, built on the east side of Indianapolis along US 40 (Washington Street). Origins & Opening Developer: Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Opening Date: October 17, 1974 Context: It was the third of DeBartolo’s trilogy of "Square" malls expanding into Indianapolis, following Lafayette Square Mall (1968) and Castleton Square Mall (1972). It effectively supplanted the open-air Eastgate Shopping Center located three miles west. Original Anchor Configuration At its peak, the mall boasted five major department store anchors totaling nearly 1 million square feet of retail space: L. S. Ayres (Opened 1974) Wm. H. Block Co. (Opened 1974) JCPenney (Relocated from Eastgate in April 1975) Sears (Relocated from Eastgate in August 1975) Lazarus (Opened August 1978) Evolution & Anchor Turnover 1987–1988: Block's closed and became Montgomery Ward. 1996: The property merged into the Simon Property Group portfolio. 1997–1999: Montgomery Ward shuttered, and Target moved into a newly constructed space on the footprint in 1999 alongside a major mall renovation. 2000s Transition: Lazarus closed and was rebuilt into a Dick's Sporting Goods (alongside an adjacent AMC Theatre). JCPenney closed and became Burlington Coat Factory. L.S. Ayres converted to Macy's in 2006 before closing. Decline & Current Status In the 2010s, shifting trade demographics on the east side, competition, and e-commerce led to rising vacancies. Simon handed management over to JLL in 2014, and the center changed hands through investors including Kohan Retail Investment Group (2016) and Durga Property LLC (2019). Today, while major anchors like Sears, Burlington, and Dick's have closed, Target remains open, while the interior corridor houses independent local businesses, discount retail, community services, and the AMC Theatres complex
The narrator visits the Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis, Indiana, a facility opened in 1974 that has fallen into severe decay. Despite being an unplanned stop, the narrator documents the mall's \"dead mall\" status, highlighting its dilapidated exterior, lack of maintenance, and the fact that Target is now one of the few remaining anchors.
Hey guys, I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana here at Washington Square Mall.
This place opened in 1974.
The former anchors were Sears, Burlington, Macy's,
JCPenney, Lazarus, Montgomery Ward and Blox.
It looks like they have just a Target now as an anchor
and it's funny because when we came to
Indianapolis this wasn't on our list
and I really don't know why I must have overlooked it. I
I actually put Lafayette Square on the list
and I didn't even know that they were permanently closed.
So we didn't get to film that.
And then Manny did a Spirit Halloween
and we drove past this and I'm like, is that a mall?
Like, oh yeah, it is.
I'm like, oh wait, is that a dead mall?
I'm like, oh yeah, it is.
So this was the one that should have been on the list
that I'm glad that we found anyways.
but I can already tell
that it's gonna be a dead mall treat
because I could see parts of the sign are missing.
So yeah, let's go walk around and see what we can find.
Look at this decrepit Burlington.
Looks apocalyptic
pulling up
to this place.
So let's see if we can see inside here.
Ooh,
wow,
wow.
It was in 2020?
Yep, this is, I mean, come on,
This mall could clean up.
Like, this is right in the front.
Clean that up.
It's not even in the back.
Like, there's a better view.
Like, there's the entrance to the mall.
Somebody left their nasty Skittles, their nasty little Caesars.
That's just bad.
And really, that's...
Somebody left their Orbeez bag on the ground.
But really, it's probably
that they don't have money to pay enough people.
or it's usually something like that, it's usually
not really anybody's, what is this banquet hall
in Kanto, that must have been, I bet you
that replaced another, look at how janky this is
this is already like really bad, like it's
the target is probably like embarrassed for the
for itself, what is this good
vibes presents, what
are they presenting
big limo, Washington Square Mall
always wear your sunscreen, walk
outside, look how bad the sign
this isn't uh, this is not a good look
so far, we'll see what's going
on in here, Haitian, that looks
good
my god
this
is bad
look
at
these
old
things
okay
so we
were
thrown
out
of the
mall
for
recording uh, but that's not gonna stop me
from walking around the outside and showing how terrible
this place looks um, this place looks like an absolute mess
and a dump uh, i can see why they're
guarding this place so heavily
because they're probably very embarrassed, so yeah let's check
this out, Burlington
again, this side
of it looks even worse
than what i just
showed burlington
oh this is what
you're
missing right
this is pathetic
but look at this
look at this um
big parking lot it's like oh
man this is bad this is bad
look how trashy that is
this place
is hey they're
like they are they
are guarding this
place heavily
okay i understand the truck people
but these guys are guarding this place with something
i don't know how bad this looks that looks like a macy's
because i think they yeah they
had lazarus here so that
must have been lazarus has
turned into macy's what
was that the macy's
over there i think it was okay yeah that looks like even
though like restaurant is boarded up
and look at all this this entrance i think
is completely closed they put
the gates up notice
no animals look look
who's here she flipped me off she's here yeah she just came over there
I didn't see her
maybe we
should just go
yeah
we wanted to show a little bit more
because I don't drive
I mean I didn't
we don't come five hours for nothing
but yeah
she came
you saw her?
no you said you saw her
that's crazy that she came all the way over there
but i just wanted you guys to see even though we couldn't show
even though you guys couldn't see
the inside really
just wanted to show what i could
this is better than nothing all right guys
um i'm gonna end it
here but i hope you guys liked seeing the nastiness to this mall even
though i couldn't
show it but you know i um i could still show you
a little bit on the outside and how bad it
looked on the outside all right i hope you guys enjoyed it
and i'll see you on the next video
