deadmalls.com

[pstokely]

www.deadmalls.com

[PittPoliSci]

1. amazing!

two malls that died are right by my house! eastland and greengate mall both in pennsylvania!

[anti_shrub]

2. While not quite a mall

You could add the East Hills Shopping Center to the list as well. It was *the* place to shop until Zayre's went out of business and all but a few of the stores left.

[Bunny]

4. Also the Butler Mall in Butler, PA

now home to a super Wally World, and the Richland Mall in Johnstown, PA.

And did you realize that your post number is now 666? Be afraid, be very afraid!

[SmileyBoy]

3. Add Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park, MN to that list.

It's currently a dying corpse of its former self. Too many other big malls in the immediate area to give Knollwood enough revenue. It used to be all one indoor mall, but recent attempted redevelopments have made about two-thirds of it into a strip mall. Sad story.

[LTR]

6. I remember that place

Was wondering if there was anything left there.

How's Apache Mall doing? I remember that place dying 20 years ago since it was ripped apart by a tornado. Looked like a ghost town after that.

[SmileyBoy]

10. Apache Mall in Rochester???

I've been there a couple times thi year, and it's doing VERY well. The exterior architecture leaves a lot to be desired, but the inside looks really nice, and all the store space appears to be taken. There's probably over 100 stores there, and they just finished building a food court/store wing/Barnes And Noble addition. It looks really nice. Business seems to be doing well, from what I can tell. I was there on a Thursday afternoon, and it still looked kind of busy. Not as busy as West Acres in Fargo (which probably has the most foot traffic per square-foot in the Upper Midwest), but busy nonetheless.

On edit: About Knollwood, most of the strip mall space is filled, and there's a huge Cub Foods grocery store that opened in the former Montgomery Ward's space, but there's almost NOTHING in the indoor section except for literally a few stores. Even though the space of the food court exists, there is absolutely NO RESTAURANTS there. The food court there used to have a Dairy Queen, McDonald's, Sbarro, 1 Potato 2, TWO chinese places, and another cafe. Now it's abandoned. Kohl's is suffering from lack of business there, and I can tell. It's usually dead. At least since August, because I haven't been able to go back there, because I moved to Fargo about five weeks ago.

So in summation, people usually only go there for Cub Foods.

[LTR]

15. Nah, Apache Mall in New Brighton (?)

On the North Side of the Metro.

Just south of I-694.

Apache Mall in Roch is still doing well, I believe.

Haven't been around there much since '99, when I moved to Milwaukee.

[SmileyBoy]

16. I think that's the Apache Plaza in Columbia Heights.

I know the one you're talking about, but I think it's in Columbia Heights, not sure.

Anyway, that place is a dump. It was last featured on the Minneapolis-based Comedy Central show "Let's Bowl". Chopper and Wally were making fun of the place.

[Wickerman]

20. Apache in Rochester is doing great

as you noted, but the Galleria in downtown Rocheste MN is going down the tubes. No major tenents, lost its movie theatre. Toast.

[SmileyBoy]

22. And yet that place STILL looks nicer than Elm Tree Square in DT Fargo.

The Galleria looks nicer than anything else any other city of its size could possibly have (with the possible exception of Thunder Bay).

But Fargo thrives on suburban business anyway, though they're trying to change that. When I establish my own architectural firm in Fargo, I'm going to work with some developers and design a new downtown mall in Fargo called "Brodway Promenade". It'll be sweet.

[LTR]

5. Northridge Mall in Milwaukee

Place is completely empty. Sears and Boston Store were the last two stores standing. Boston Store closed this past winter. Loks like the whole thing is going to be razed soon.

Capitol Court also died. Was torn down a few years ago, and a Wal Mart, grocery store and some strip malls were put there.

[Wickerman]

7. Central Park Mall in San Antonio TX

If not gone and demolished, as I think it is, is limping along with just a Sears store and a nightclub or two. (not certain, haven't been back to SA in months). Was the premiere mall in town - 30 years ago, right off the airport - used to be North of town, now is in the heart and really has taken a beating for the last decade or so.

[GOPisEvil]

9. I think it still stands.

Limping along is right. Sears and a nightclub complex is it.

North Star Mall, right across the street is doing very well as it chose to embrace the upscale shops. Central Park had the carousel, and not much else...

[lazarus]

12. Which one's got the boots?

That's what I remember, those bigass boots....

[GOPisEvil]

14. North Star

And they are bigass boots! :D

[theemu]

23. It's gone!

I'm from northside San Antonio and can attest that the only thing left at Central Park mall is the Sears. Everything else has been demolished and the developers are planning to put in a Quarry/Forum style stripmall center at the old Central Park location. Frankly, I think the lot was rendered useless by the awful and accident-prone 410-San Pedro interchange. I rarely even go to North Star Mall to shop anymore.

[GOPisEvil]

24. Ahhh...I knew something was still standing over there...

And, you're right, that intersection blows! I use McCullough when I am in SA and need to go to North Star.

[Wickerman]

25. Lived near that damned interchange

and it was living hell. Used to live across from the boots. Right up from the strip club, now there is a Best buy there. I think my bedroom of my apt used to be in what is now the CD section of Best Buy.

A Quarry like strip is just not what is need there. Oh well, I hope the 3 or 4 years of construction and millions used for the righting of that horrid intersection straightens out that airport exit.

[Aristus]

8. Lakewood Mall in Lakewood, Washington, south of Tacoma.

It suffered a difficult birth, conceived to replace the old Villa Plaza, twitched and writhed through store openings and store closings, had less foot traffic than the surface of the moon, and contributed to the feeling that America's economy is falling through the cellar hole.

[SmileyBoy]

11. Gateway Mall in Bismarck, ND (Bismarck's second mall) will be razed soon.

Kirkwood Mall in Bismarck is thriving, and that took away most of the business from Gateway. It's totally abandoned now, but they're planning on putting another one of those generic big-box retail complexes there. Kinda sucks, because Bismarck is growing fast (over 60,000 people) and has been consuming major tracts of land lately, and this would just lower the density of the land.

[ZenLefty]

13. Aw, Mohawk Mall is in there.

*sniff* ;(

[XNASA]

17. Dixie Square Mall - Harvey IL

I grew up about 2 miles from Dixie Square Mall. My little brother used to say Grixie Grare, back when he was but a little shaver.

The police car chase scene in a mall from the Blues Brothers movie was shot at Dixie Square.

It was really depressing to read about what's happpened there since. Mold, packs of wild dogs, etc.

[LTR]

18. That was the most fascinating story on the site!

Imagine, a mall that's been closed almost 25 years, with heavy mold, doberman patrols, and trees and nature reclaiming the land. And the 'Blues Brothers' chase was filmed after it's demise.

One would think it would be ripe for development.

The other fascinating one was the upscale mall in a working class area of Cincinatti. It became a ghost mall, and it was just built in '89!

[XNASA]

19. The story of Harvey IL is almost as bad as the mall.

My parents both grew up in Harvey. In the 40's and 50's Harvey was a really happening place.

The problem was that the economy of Harvey was largely based on the finishing of steel products. There were several forges and milling factories in Harvey. The material came from the steel mills in Gary IN and on the SE side of Chicago. When the steel industry left, there was no need for the forges and mills. Harvey got hit really hard.

Did you know that Tom Dreeson, Lou Boudreau, the Chi-lites and the Dells all had ties to Harvey. Also, Thornton High School in Harvey has more alumni playing the NFL than any other high school in the country.

Harvey is on the rebound now. Crime is way down, and the downtown section is being cleaned up. My commuter train passes through downtown Harvey so I'm there almost everyday. The mall is nowhere near downtown though.

[Wickerman]

21. Old Capitol Center in Iowa City IA

Never really took off, had to reroute half the city for years, took a lot of the downtown with it by closing off small stores to decent foot traffic for months. All the major players went out to Corralville when they put the regional megamall out at the junction of I-80 and what, 235? Worked in the OCC years ago - ugly ass mall.

[SmileyBoy]

26. Also, Irongate Mall in Hibbing, Minnesota.

A concrete edifice from the early-1970's that's only at half capacity. It was VERY depressing walking through that thing last summer. It's not dying because of other businesses in the area, it's because the Iron Range (the area that Hibbing is in) is in real economic pain right now. There's no other new business going up there. Town populations all over "Da Range" are shrinking more dramatically than most rural North Dakota towns. Hibbing is a VERY depressing looking town, anyway, and it's in real decline. There used to be close to 22,000 people there in the early 1980's, and there's around 17,000 now.

[pstokely]

27. too many dead malls in the Kansas City area

Metcalf South and Indian springs are nearly dead, Jones Stone closed at Blue Ridge, Bannister Mall has become the 'black' mall, half of Ward Parkway was torn down and is half strip mall/half indoor mall