September 8, 1995 was opening day for Circle Centre Mall, the indoor shopping mall whose former block you are looking at now in Indianapolis. It was built for $307.5 million and incorporated existing downtown structures such as the former L. S. Ayres flagship store. When it operated it held 99 stores on four levels with a gross leasable area of 729,981 square feet.
The mall was first conceived in the 1980s to include the Ayres and William H. Block department stores along with one or two others new to the city, but before the mall could open both Ayres and Block had already closed, leaving Nordstrom and Parisian, the latter later converted to Carson’s, as anchors. Over time the complex was anchored only by the offices for The Indianapolis Star, while spaces once occupied by Carson Pirie Scott, Regal Cinemas, and Tilt Studio stood vacant. The third level featured a food court; the fourth level held vacant entertainment venues — a former Tilt Studio and a former nine‑screen United Artists movie theater — and now contains non‑retail tenants.
The mall closed its doors on December 31, 2025. Notice that the mall closed its doors for good on December 31, 2025, leaving the former L. S. Ayres flagship silent.