Eastgate Consumer Mall, formerly Eastgate Shopping Center was a one-level shopping mall 10.6 miles (17.1 km) southeast of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana in the Eastgate neighborhood. It was situated between East Washington Street, North Shortridge Road and Shadeland Avenue in the city of Indianapolis. The mall featured three anchors, including Burlington Coat Factory, JCPenney and Sears.
Power Center[]
Eastgate Shopping Center originally opened in 1957 with three anchor tenants which were JCPenney, Sears and Wasson's. Other tenants included G.C. Murphy, Woolworth and more. Eastgate was one of the more popular shopping centers in the eastside of Indianapolis.
Enclosed Mall[]
In 1972, the Eastgate Shopping Center was fully enclosed and the mall's name was changed to Eastgate Consumer Mall. In 1975, JCPenney and Sears both closed and relocated to Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis. In 1980, Wasson's closed but was quickly replaced with Burlington Coat Factory in 1982. In 1981, Simon Property Group purchased the mall. As a result of Simon's ownership, the mall was renovated in 1982 to shift the mall's focus to off-price and outlet stores.
Decline[]
During the 1980s, it was very apparent that Eastgate was struggling. Simon was having issues trying to replace the former JCPenney and Sears space, the best Simon could possibly do was fill the space with a cut rate discount drug store. In 2002, Simon Property Group sold the mall to Haywood Whichard, Whichard who was well known for not doing anything with the mall property he owns, did the same exact thing to Eastgate and the mall continued to struggle worse then before. In 2003, Burlington Coat Factory relocated out of the mall and moved to Washington Square. On June 30, 2004, the remaining mall tenants were evicted and the mall was permanently closed.
Redevelopment[]
Eastgate Consumer Mall was left abandoned for four years until 2008 when the former mall property was sold to Lifeline Data Centers, half of the mall would then be converted into a storage facility and an emergency center took over the other half.