Columbus City Center Mall (1989-2009)

Columbus City Center Mall, which opened in 1989, is slated to close next week on March 5th, 2009. The once upscale mall has been in decline for the past several years and had only three tenants left as of last week. The building will be demolished in favor of a mixed-use development which will also include a large downtown park. See the Wikipeda page for more info about the mall.

I have mixed feelings about the closure. While I've never been a fan of the suburban-style shopping mall in an urban setting, it was nice to have a shopping destination downtown that I could walk to. Unfortunately the suburban-style design, with very few connections to the surrounding neighborhood, hastened its demise.

Here are photos from February 18, 2009 during the liquidation sale.

Mannequins waiting to be sold.

First level fountain area.

Inside Jacobson's department store which had been closed since 2002.

A box of phones at Jacobson's.

Store fronts that had been boarded up years ago were reopened for the liquidation sale.

Escalators down to the High Street entrance. The location of the former bridge to Lazarus is boarded up.

Third level concourse.

Overlooking the pit and stage area from the third level.

Outside of the former Victoria's Secret store.

Mannequins for sale near the would-be entrance for the fourth anchor store that was never built.