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The Great Mall is dead, IIRC, Olathe is trying to determine what should be done with it.
Ward Parkway Center and Independence Center have rebounded quite nicely IMO. Oak Park is thriving. I think that's pretty much each for your classic indoor malls that are doing well in the metro. Target, Walmart, and Amazon.com have put them out of business (and they might very well have been unsustainable to begin with).
My first thought was "The Great Mall isn't quite there yet, is it?" But deadmalls.com defines "dead mall" as having a decline at 70% or less, and it probably qualifies under that definition. There are a good number of stores still open there; my wife and I walked around a couple weeks ago. I did see a sign on the door saying that they would be closing an hour earlier every night from then on, which is never a good sign. It's also probably not a good sign how many of its tenants aren't traditional stores (the DMV, a church, at least two museums, just going off the top of my head).
Here is a map of Arundel Mills Mall (between DC and Baltimore). I swear, the layout of the mall is from the same blueprints as great mall other than the casino which was just added. It's an outlet mall, but has many regular stores too. The place is always a complete zoo, very difficult to find parking (although that's pretty typical of any retail place in DC area, even in the suburbs).
Here is St Louis Mills, again, almost same exact layout. I'm sure there are more malls like this, I just know of these two because I am very familiar with StL and DC areas.
They all have the rather modest and nothing special Burlington Coat Factory as an anchor and theaters (although much nicer than the Dickison at Great Mall). After that, the other two malls are VERY different. They have major destination anchors and retail stores and several entertainment type destinations. The StL mall has Cabella's an ice rink (where Blues used to practice, not sure if they still do), a go-kart track etc. The Maryland mall has a Bass Pro, D&B, mid evil times theater restaurant, casino etc.
So basically western KCK and the Legends is what put the nail in the coffin at Great Mall, but Great Mall was slow to get off the ground. Why couldn't they land a bass pro, the mall was there long before the bass pro went to Olathe and since Olathe gave Bass Pro like 20 million, why didn't they require them to go to the mall and be a part of that rather than build in new location while they had an empty mall? Again, using incentives to build new retail centers even while your city has an empty mall is retarded. Why was the mall not able to land tenants like D&B, Cabellas etc many years before KCK did?
So Olathe and the developers just dropped the ball and KCK picked it up with their own incentive funded retail district.
Another thing about Great Mall is even when it first opened, it had to be the absolute ugliest interior design I have ever seen in a mall. The place looked like it was designed by somebody that watched Wizard of Oz too many times and then smoked way too much crack. Seriously, WTF was that all about.
I don't know if that mall can be saved. With its racetrack layout, it's not ideal for a traditional indoor regional mall, but with a major remodel including structural, I think it could come back as a regional mall. The only problem is JoCo is way over retailed and new subsidized centers continue to go up (Prairie Fire, Corbin Park etc and those have taken a decade even with massive incentives.)
I would say that you are looking at the next Bannister Mall for the next 10-15 years till JoCo is not overbuilt or they tear it down.
^ It's been a couple of years since I have been to St Louis Mills (it's been re branded St Louis Outlets). I guess the mall is starting to struggle a little. Looks like sprawl in St Charles County and the new Outlet Mall on I-70 is impacting the mall.
Like I said, most malls have very short lifespans as healthy vibrant and popular malls. Although Great Mall was like that for about one year as people checked it out and were not impressed so they didn't return (at least those from beyond Olathe).
One more thing to disclose. I don't like malls and the mills malls in StL and DC are the kinds of malls I dislike the most, they tend to be the walmarts of malls (demographically speaking). Even those I pretty much can't stand outlet malls I find them interesting from an urban planning perspective, so I like to follow their lifespans and figure out what keeps them functioning.
As far as I know, the only thing at Indian Springs is some kind of operation or maybe headquarters for the KCK police department. There's a fleet of police cars parked at the southeast corner of the mall.
I drove by Indian Springs today. It appears the KCK PD has built a stand alone building on the west parking lot. So the entire mall may be vacant now.
So basically western KCK and the Legends is what put the nail in the coffin at Great Mall, but Great Mall was slow to get off the ground. Why couldn't they land a bass pro, the mall was there long before the bass pro went to Olathe and since Olathe gave Bass Pro like 20 million, why didn't they require them to go to the mall and be a part of that rather than build in new location while they had an empty mall? Again, using incentives to build new retail centers even while your city has an empty mall is retarded. Why was the mall not able to land tenants like D&B, Cabellas etc many years before KCK did?
So Olathe and the developers just dropped the ball and KCK picked it up with their own incentive funded retail district.
.
I don't know why other people didn't go to the Great Mall, but for me it was that it was just too far south. At the time it was built there wasn't really a whole lot out there. There's a lot more now, but if you don't live out there or have a reason to go out there otherwise, you wouldn't want to drive all the way out there just for the mall, or at least I wouldn't. I can find everything I can find there without having to drive to south Olathe.
I also don't know that Bass Pro would have done so well out there. Maybe it would from people driving up from Franklin and Miami counties, but again I doubt people further away in Johnson County or KCMO would drive to 151st for it when there's really nothing else out there. 119th is different because there ARE more things at that location. Same with the Legends. If all that was out there was a mall, I doubt I'd make it out there too often and maybe never. But with Nebraska Furniture Mart, lots of restaurants, Sporting KC, T-bones, Kansas Speedway - yeah, I'm likely to be out there anyway and just may do some shopping while I'm out there.
I guess if all the stuff that is at The Legends, including NFM, were at the Great Mall location that I would go out there. But the way that place looks right now, I wouldn't go. The whole area kind of looks in a state of disrepair; the parking lot is cracked and lumpy around the mall and around all the restaurants and it really looks like nobody cares about the place or takes care of it.
I still can't believe they spent all that money to build Mission Mall, only to tear it down and leave NOTHING in its place. Might as well have left it there. I loved that there was a Function Junction there. I won't make a trip all the way to Crown Center to go to Function Junction and I won't make a trip all the way to Oak Park to go to Dillard's. But I shopped at both those stores at Mission Mall because it was convenient.
^I think Olathe and every other major suburbs on the other edges of the metro area intercept a lot of traffic coming to the area for retail, restaurants, etc. For example, with all of the development/sprawl in eastern Blue Springs I think not only has that stolen the thunder from older, closer in parts of Blue Springs (7 Highway, which is the next Noland Rd, I think), but also from Independence. Olathe itself is a sizable city, especially now. I think Olathe could support a major retail center with a new Macy's or something, something like Summit Fair in Lee's Summit. The Great Mall has always just been lame and I don't see any reason for another indoor mall in JoCo besides Oak Park, especially since it has such a central location.
I don't know why other people didn't go to the Great Mall, but for me it was that it was just too far south. At the time it was built there wasn't really a whole lot out there. There's a lot more now, but if you don't live out there or have a reason to go out there otherwise, you wouldn't want to drive all the way out there just for the mall, or at least I wouldn't. I can find everything I can find there without having to drive to south Olathe.
I also don't know that Bass Pro would have done so well out there. Maybe it would from people driving up from Franklin and Miami counties, but again I doubt people further away in Johnson County or KCMO would drive to 151st for it when there's really nothing else out there. 119th is different because there ARE more things at that location. Same with the Legends. If all that was out there was a mall, I doubt I'd make it out there too often and maybe never. But with Nebraska Furniture Mart, lots of restaurants, Sporting KC, T-bones, Kansas Speedway - yeah, I'm likely to be out there anyway and just may do some shopping while I'm out there.
I guess if all the stuff that is at The Legends, including NFM, were at the Great Mall location that I would go out there. But the way that place looks right now, I wouldn't go. The whole area kind of looks in a state of disrepair; the parking lot is cracked and lumpy around the mall and around all the restaurants and it really looks like nobody cares about the place or takes care of it.
I still can't believe they spent all that money to build Mission Mall, only to tear it down and leave NOTHING in its place. Might as well have left it there. I loved that there was a Function Junction there. I won't make a trip all the way to Crown Center to go to Function Junction and I won't make a trip all the way to Oak Park to go to Dillard's. But I shopped at both those stores at Mission Mall because it was convenient.
I used to live right by Mission Center. Having an empty field is much preferable to having that dead mall there. And they had the right idea with the original proposal, they just got in bed with a shady developer right as the real estate market crashed.
^ It's been a couple of years since I have been to St Louis Mills (it's been re branded St Louis Outlets). I guess the mall is starting to struggle a little. Looks like sprawl in St Charles County and the new Outlet Mall on I-70 is impacting the mall.
Like I said, most malls have very short lifespans as healthy vibrant and popular malls. Although Great Mall was like that for about one year as people checked it out and were not impressed so they didn't return (at least those from beyond Olathe).
One more thing to disclose. I don't like malls and the mills malls in StL and DC are the kinds of malls I dislike the most, they tend to be the walmarts of malls (demographically speaking). Even those I pretty much can't stand outlet malls I find them interesting from an urban planning perspective, so I like to follow their lifespans and figure out what keeps them functioning.
Yes - the Mills is starting to struggle now that along I-64 (not I-70) in Chesterfield they opened 2 new outlet malls within a few miles of each other. Keep in mind these were also built just a few miles west of the Chesterfield Mall, and adjacent to one of the largest (so I've read) strip shopping centers in the nation (Chesterfield Commons).
Personally, I find this rediculous and beleive that some government entity should have stopped these both from developing so close to each other completely at the expense of another outlet mall. We have already seen the demise of the outlets in Wentzville (Belk?), then Warrenton, and now the Mills. I wonder if the bus loads of shoppers have begun to arrive by the droves as they expected (for the unique experience of such a huge shopping mecca).
It makes me kind of sad. Call me crazy, but I have always liked the mid-century architecture of Metcalf South. As far as malls go, it actually looks pretty cool. I always wished they would find a way to keep it going. I realize that enclosed malls are going away, but with our climate, we kind of need to keep some enclosed shopping centers around here! Oakpark is really all we have left.
^Don't forgot about Independence Center. It's not Oak Park, but it is a great mall.
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Might as well have left it there. I loved that there was a Function Junction there. I won't make a trip all the way to Crown Center to go to Function Junction and I won't make a trip all the way to Oak Park to go to Dillard's. But I shopped at both those stores at Mission Mall because it was convenient.
