Eastsiders have spent years watching retail businesses such as Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods shutter in Washington Square mall, leaving behind vacant store fronts and a crumbling parking lot.
The mall is currently for sale, but is still open. The majority of remaining tenants are local businesses.
But now an eastside councilor is working to revitalize the roughly 94-acre site. On Aug. 3, more than 100 community members gathered for a town hall to learn about a potential path that could bring life back to the once bustling property.
City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, a Republican, launched a pre-development site study in February. The study was led by Schmidt Associates, an Indianapolis architecture firm, and privately funded by real estate group, Lauth Group. The study included a community survey, outreach meetings and interviews with current mall tenants. It was then developed into a concept plan for potential future development which the architecture firm presented at the Aug. 3 town hall.
Joseph Jarzen, a client liaison for Schmidt Associates, said that while the mall is still open for business, it’s gone through “a drastic change” that has “deterred people from going back.”
“That is something that the councilor and all of us are hoping to change,” he said, “is to try to help bring something back there that we can be proud of for this part of our community.”
The study outreach found residents want to see the property turned into a mixed-use development that includes dining, retail and space for workforce development training.
The vision plan presented included greenspace, a sports complex and housing. It also featured an extension of the Grassy Creek Trail and access to IndyGo’s next bus rapid transit line, the Blue Line. The Blue Line will run past the mall on Washington Street.
Jarzen said any future development would need to be completed in phases. The first steps would be repairing the deteriorated parking lot, improving exterior lighting and fixing the sprinkler system, he said.
At this time, developers and investors have not been secured. The concept plan just serves as an idea of what potential development could look like.
‘A great plan to get started with’
Many community members were receptive to the vision plan, but others were concerned about costs and development follow-through.
Eastsider JC Nash is concerned about the proposed sports facility. He said several gyms and community centers have closed in recent years, including an LA Fitness and the Ransburg YMCA. He worries this development will also fail.
However, Hart said the sports facility is one of the design plans developers are most interested in. He said instead of a traditional gym, the facility would likely be an indoor center for sports such as basketball or pickleball.
Still, Nash remains skeptical.
“The Ransburg YMCA was also a community center that offered all those similar functions,” Nash said. “It was a pillar for the whole community, and it folded, and it was active. So this new startup, you know, what’s to stop it from imploding as well?”
Some residents, like Steven Wendt, said redevelopment is long overdue. Wendt has lived in the area since the early ‘90s. He said the area has needed improvements for decades.
“The east side’s always getting trashed by Indianapolis,” Wendt said. “North side gets it, south side gets it, west side gets it. For whatever reason, we don’t get much out here.”
While he understands the vision plan is just an idea and that a developer can come in and make changes, he’s still hopeful for future development.
“This is a great plan to get started with,” Wendt said. “Nothing’s in concrete, but you got to start with something.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian or on Bluesky @darianbenson.bsky.social.
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