Dixie Square Mall
Encyclopedia
Dixie Square Mall is an abandoned enclosed shopping mall
located in Harvey, Illinois
, United States
, located at the junction of 151st Street and the Dixie Highway
. It has been vacant for over 30 years, more than twice as long as it was in business. It is famous for having been used, both inside and out, for the mall chase scene in the movie The Blues Brothers
. More recently, it achieved notoriety because of a growing Internet cult following (including local urban exploration
groups) dedicated to covering the mall's deteriorating condition. Like other "dead mall
s", it had been characterized by high vacancy rates and low patronage, which led to its closure. However, while other dead malls were redeveloped or demolished, Dixie Square has stood out due to its extensive neglect, vandalism damage, and storied history.
Since the mall closed, various plans have been made to demolish or redevelop the property, though none of these plans has ever come to fruition. The first plan to demolish the mall was developed in the late 1970s, but the filming of The Blues Brothers prevented this from happening. The mall has been left to decay ever since, due in no small part to a lack of funds (the blighted town of Harvey owned the property itself for the greater part of the last 25 years). The only parts of the mall that have been fully demolished are the central energy plant, the former Woolworth
anchor, and the former Montgomery Ward building.
25 million, Dixie Square opened in 1966 on the site of a former golf course. Construction had begun in late 1964, and Montgomery Ward
was the first of the mall's stores to open, on October 21, 1965. A soft opening took place August 31, 1966, with 36 stores. Construction was completed nearly three months later, and the mall was dedicated on November 9, 1966, with grand opening celebrations from November 10-12, and 50 stores open. Grand opening celebrations featured Homer and Jethro
; Art Hodes
and Sid Sakowicz; the Art Van Damme
Quintet; and Ned Locke
of the Bozo's Circus
show.
The mall had 64 shops by 1968, including the two anchor stores, Woolworth
, Walgreens
, and a Jewel
supermarket, the last of which did not open into the mall. An expansion and a third anchor, Turn Style
discount department store, was added in 1970.
However, by the early 1970s, crime was becoming an increasing problem in the mall's town of Harvey, a failing, poverty-stricken suburb 20 miles (32.2 km) south of Chicago
. Several major incidents began occurring near or at the mall itself. In November 1972, a young woman was fatally shot near the mall in a botched robbery attempt. On April 20, 1973, another person was shot in a robbery on the mall property itself. In July 1973, a teenage girl was lured away from the mall by three other teenage girls, and strangled to death.
From 1973 to 1976, Dixie lost many stores, including the Montgomery Ward anchor, which closed on October 4, 1976. In a last-ditch effort to bring back shoppers and tenants, the mall underwent a renovation in 1976 and shortened its name to "Dixie Mall". These efforts failed, as by 1978, it was down to its last twenty stores, with Penney's departing on January 25, 1978. The entire mall closed its doors in November 1978 with the exception of Walgreens and Jewel, which were both accessible from outside of the mall and stayed open into 1979.
On January 25, 1979, a full year after closing, Penney's briefly reopened and held a sale which they called "Dixie's Last Gasp", in which they liquidated outdated merchandise, mannequins, and display cases.
Shortly after the last store (Jewel) vacated, director John Landis
rented the vacant mall for eight weeks in the summer of 1979 to film a scene in the movie The Blues Brothers
. Police cars were driven through the mall, destroying parts of it. Some former tenants, including Hickory Farms
and Walgreens, refused to let their storefronts appear in the film so these were either "dressed up" as other stores (the Walgreens became a Toys "R" Us, and the Penney's interior became that of Jewel, although the exteriors of the real Jewel and Penney's stores were retained. The Jewel store never had a mall entrance), or not featured at all. In the film, main characters Elwood and Jake Blues drive through store fronts, display cases and walls and destroy much of the mall while being chased by Illinois State Police
troopers. Much of the mall interior was left in poor condition after filming wrapped. The fake wall that the cars crashed through in Toys "R" Us at the beginning of the scene remained in the building until the mid 1980s.
The Harvey-Dixmoor School District attempted to sue Universal Pictures
in December 1981 for $87,000, citing damage to mall property created during the movie shoot, which was never repaired. The district eventually vacated the property, and the mall was completely shuttered.
. Also around this time, the large triangular "Dixie" sign, added in the 1976 renovation and seen in the Blues Brothers film, was removed. The canvas covering the JCPenney court area was removed as well, allowing rain and snow to enter into the building. Over time, this, coupled with lack of maintenance, took its toll on the building.
In approximately 1985, the Wards Auto Service garage in the southwest corner of the mall property was razed, in preparation for construction of a new police station for Harvey. Work was temporary halted on July 9, 1987 (at about 35% completion) while concerns about the building's foundation were addressed; work on the police station resumed a week later.
Also in the early 1990s, a juvenile court was built on the far west end of the parking lot. Despite numerous attempts to board up and secure the mall, it has been forced open repeatedly. Vandalism is the primary cause, but many homeless people have also turned the former mall site into makeshift living quarters. There has been much debate on what to do with the site.
In the mid 2000s, a massive fire broke out inside the Woolworth store and nearly destroyed the building. The fire caused the roof to cave in, and due to that and other cave-ins, entire saplings are now growing inside the building. Another fire broke out in the City Life lounge, causing minor damage to the abandoned bar. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, several other small fires broke out at the mall.
By the end of the 1990s, full-fledged trees had grown throughout the parking lot, and by the late 2000s, the mall was beginning to collapse.
In January 2005, an agreement was made with American Kitchen Delights to turn the former Montgomery Ward building into a showroom for American Kitchen's products, with the YMCA then using another portion of the property to build senior citizen housing. Just days after the agreement was made, work on the Montgomery Ward store began. The store was gutted.
On April 14, 2005, a plan was set in motion to demolish the remnants of Dixie Square (except for the Montgomery Ward building which was ostensibly being renovated) and bring top "big-box
" retailers to the former mall site, including Costco
, Kohl's
, and Old Navy
. This plan forecast bringing more than 1,000 jobs to Harvey, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Cook County
.
Soon it was found that the mall contained asbestos
. The removed debris was hapazardly covered in plastic
and the Montgomery Ward renovation and mall demolition were halted in late June 2005. It was also discovered that the demolition and renovation company had acted without a permit. On July 3, 2005, the site renovation project was put on hold until the asbestos issue could be dealt with.
On Christmas Eve 2005, during demolition of Dixie Square Mall's central energy plant (which was being done late at night and illegally, as the asbestos problem had not been resolved), a large portion of the Montgomery Ward building was accidentally demolished as well, ending any chance of its renovation. The mayor of Harvey actually witnessed this personally and stopped the crew from doing any more damage, when he happened to drive past the site.
On February 16, 2006, the entire mall property was sold to developer John Deneen of the Emerald Property Group. The remainder of the Montgomery Ward building was torn down March 1 in a widely publicized stunt, but no progress was made to demolish the rest of the mall afterwards. After the news crews left, so did the demolition companies. Within several months of the Montgomery Ward demolition, liens were placed against the building by several invested companies. Deneen himself threatened the owner of one of these companies with brass knuckles
and a firearm (he pled guilty in 2008 to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon). Attorney General Lisa Madigan
also filed lawsuits against Deneen and several previous developers for failing to remove the asbestos in accordance with state law.
On July 20, 2009, a fire broke out in the entrance to Block C during the late afternoon. The cause of the fire is unknown. The fire damaged the Block C entrance to the point where its roof collapsed within a month afterward, and left scorch marks on the exterior of the former Penney's building.
In February 2010 it was reported that Chicago-based developers MG Development South LLC were planning to demolish the remains of the mall and replace them with a mixture of big-box stores and other retail on the site.
On September 23, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn
announced that a $4 million dollar federal grant will be used to demolish the mall. Gov. Quinn also stated that the total cost will be around $5 million, with the remainder of the money coming from federal disaster recovery funds given to the state due to flooding in 2008
. According to officials, demolition was to start in November and take four to six months. As of June 2011, ruins of the mall remained standing with demolition funding still available, but with the demolition project itself mired in government regulatory hurdles.
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
located in Harvey, Illinois
Harvey, Illinois
Harvey is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, near Chicago. The population was 30,000 at the 2000 census.Harvey is bordered by Dixmoor, Riverdale and Blue Island to the north, Posen and Markham to the west, South Holland, Phoenix, and Dolton to the east, and East Hazel Crest to the...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, located at the junction of 151st Street and the Dixie Highway
Dixie Highway
The Dixie Highway was a United States automobile highway, first planned in 1914 to connect the US Midwest with the Southern United States. It was part of the National Auto Trail system, and grew out of an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final result is better understood as a small network of...
. It has been vacant for over 30 years, more than twice as long as it was in business. It is famous for having been used, both inside and out, for the mall chase scene in the movie The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
. More recently, it achieved notoriety because of a growing Internet cult following (including local urban exploration
Urban exploration
Urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or...
groups) dedicated to covering the mall's deteriorating condition. Like other "dead mall
Dead mall
A dead mall or greyfield is a shopping mall with a high vacancy rate or a low consumer traffic level, or that is dated or deteriorating in some manner. Many malls in the United States are considered "dead" when they have no surviving anchor store or successor that could serve as an entry into or...
s", it had been characterized by high vacancy rates and low patronage, which led to its closure. However, while other dead malls were redeveloped or demolished, Dixie Square has stood out due to its extensive neglect, vandalism damage, and storied history.
Since the mall closed, various plans have been made to demolish or redevelop the property, though none of these plans has ever come to fruition. The first plan to demolish the mall was developed in the late 1970s, but the filming of The Blues Brothers prevented this from happening. The mall has been left to decay ever since, due in no small part to a lack of funds (the blighted town of Harvey owned the property itself for the greater part of the last 25 years). The only parts of the mall that have been fully demolished are the central energy plant, the former Woolworth
F. W. Woolworth Company
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...
anchor, and the former Montgomery Ward building.
Open for business: 1965–1978
At the cost of US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
25 million, Dixie Square opened in 1966 on the site of a former golf course. Construction had begun in late 1964, and Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
was the first of the mall's stores to open, on October 21, 1965. A soft opening took place August 31, 1966, with 36 stores. Construction was completed nearly three months later, and the mall was dedicated on November 9, 1966, with grand opening celebrations from November 10-12, and 50 stores open. Grand opening celebrations featured Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...
; Art Hodes
Art Hodes
Arthur W. Hodes , known professionally as Art Hodes, was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:...
and Sid Sakowicz; the Art Van Damme
Art Van Damme
Art Van Damme was a jazz accordionist.-Biography:Born in Norway, Michigan, he began playing the accordion at age nine and started classical study when his family moved to Chicago in 1934. In 1941 he joined Ben Bernie's band as an accordionist. He adapted Benny Goodman's music to the accordion...
Quintet; and Ned Locke
Ned Locke
Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke , was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 - 1976....
of the Bozo's Circus
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
show.
The mall had 64 shops by 1968, including the two anchor stores, Woolworth
F. W. Woolworth Company
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...
, Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
, and a Jewel
Jewel (supermarket)
Jewel-Osco is a supermarket chain headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Jewel-Osco has 182 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana.Jewel-Osco and Jewel are currently wholly owned subsidiaries of Eden Prairie,...
supermarket, the last of which did not open into the mall. An expansion and a third anchor, Turn Style
Turn Style
Turn Style was a chain of discount department stores and was a division of Chicago-based Jewel, the parent company of the Jewel Food Stores supermarket chain. Each Turn Style had an Osco Pharmacy, at the time very uncommon for a discount store in the 1960s and 1970s...
discount department store, was added in 1970.
However, by the early 1970s, crime was becoming an increasing problem in the mall's town of Harvey, a failing, poverty-stricken suburb 20 miles (32.2 km) south of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Several major incidents began occurring near or at the mall itself. In November 1972, a young woman was fatally shot near the mall in a botched robbery attempt. On April 20, 1973, another person was shot in a robbery on the mall property itself. In July 1973, a teenage girl was lured away from the mall by three other teenage girls, and strangled to death.
From 1973 to 1976, Dixie lost many stores, including the Montgomery Ward anchor, which closed on October 4, 1976. In a last-ditch effort to bring back shoppers and tenants, the mall underwent a renovation in 1976 and shortened its name to "Dixie Mall". These efforts failed, as by 1978, it was down to its last twenty stores, with Penney's departing on January 25, 1978. The entire mall closed its doors in November 1978 with the exception of Walgreens and Jewel, which were both accessible from outside of the mall and stayed open into 1979.
On January 25, 1979, a full year after closing, Penney's briefly reopened and held a sale which they called "Dixie's Last Gasp", in which they liquidated outdated merchandise, mannequins, and display cases.
Temporary school and movie set 1979–1981
In January 1979, after the mall's interior had closed, the city of Harvey gave the property not still in use by stores to the Harvey-Dixmoor School District. The mall space was used as a temporary school while a new one was constructed. Turn Style's floor space was used as a gymnasium. The mall was used for this purpose for two years.Shortly after the last store (Jewel) vacated, director John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
rented the vacant mall for eight weeks in the summer of 1979 to film a scene in the movie The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
. Police cars were driven through the mall, destroying parts of it. Some former tenants, including Hickory Farms
Hickory Farms
Hickory Farms is an American specialty foods company based in Maumee, Ohio. The company was established in 1951 when founder Richard Ransom began selling hand cut cheese at local fairs. By 1959, the company added summer sausage and opened their first retail store outside Toledo, Ohio...
and Walgreens, refused to let their storefronts appear in the film so these were either "dressed up" as other stores (the Walgreens became a Toys "R" Us, and the Penney's interior became that of Jewel, although the exteriors of the real Jewel and Penney's stores were retained. The Jewel store never had a mall entrance), or not featured at all. In the film, main characters Elwood and Jake Blues drive through store fronts, display cases and walls and destroy much of the mall while being chased by Illinois State Police
Illinois State Police
The Illinois State Police is the state police force of Illinois. Officially established in 1922, the Illinois State Police have over 3,000 personnel and 21 districts. The main facilities of the Illinois State Police Academy, which were constructed in 1968, are located in Springfield. Prior to...
troopers. Much of the mall interior was left in poor condition after filming wrapped. The fake wall that the cars crashed through in Toys "R" Us at the beginning of the scene remained in the building until the mid 1980s.
The Harvey-Dixmoor School District attempted to sue Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
in December 1981 for $87,000, citing damage to mall property created during the movie shoot, which was never repaired. The district eventually vacated the property, and the mall was completely shuttered.
Shuttered and seeking use: 1981–1985
Following the movie shoot and the departure of the school district, the mall sat completely empty while new uses for the property were sought. In 1984, vandals broke in for the first time, damaging and looting the mall, and leaving a number of entrances wide open in the process. Every accessible pane of glass in the mall was broken. Within a year, any piece of metal worth salvaging had been stolenMetal theft
Metal theft is the theft of metal items on a very large scale. These thefts usually increase when worldwide prices for scrap metal rise. In recent years, prices for metals have risen dramatically due to rapid industrialization in India and China...
. Also around this time, the large triangular "Dixie" sign, added in the 1976 renovation and seen in the Blues Brothers film, was removed. The canvas covering the JCPenney court area was removed as well, allowing rain and snow to enter into the building. Over time, this, coupled with lack of maintenance, took its toll on the building.
In approximately 1985, the Wards Auto Service garage in the southwest corner of the mall property was razed, in preparation for construction of a new police station for Harvey. Work was temporary halted on July 9, 1987 (at about 35% completion) while concerns about the building's foundation were addressed; work on the police station resumed a week later.
Left to stand and deteriorate: 1985–present
Despite the new Harvey Police station occupying land immediately adjacent, the shuttered mall gained a reputation as a notorious crime magnet during the early 1990s, with at least one murder and rape taking place there, as well as gang and drug activity.Also in the early 1990s, a juvenile court was built on the far west end of the parking lot. Despite numerous attempts to board up and secure the mall, it has been forced open repeatedly. Vandalism is the primary cause, but many homeless people have also turned the former mall site into makeshift living quarters. There has been much debate on what to do with the site.
In the mid 2000s, a massive fire broke out inside the Woolworth store and nearly destroyed the building. The fire caused the roof to cave in, and due to that and other cave-ins, entire saplings are now growing inside the building. Another fire broke out in the City Life lounge, causing minor damage to the abandoned bar. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, several other small fires broke out at the mall.
By the end of the 1990s, full-fledged trees had grown throughout the parking lot, and by the late 2000s, the mall was beginning to collapse.
In January 2005, an agreement was made with American Kitchen Delights to turn the former Montgomery Ward building into a showroom for American Kitchen's products, with the YMCA then using another portion of the property to build senior citizen housing. Just days after the agreement was made, work on the Montgomery Ward store began. The store was gutted.
On April 14, 2005, a plan was set in motion to demolish the remnants of Dixie Square (except for the Montgomery Ward building which was ostensibly being renovated) and bring top "big-box
Big-box store
A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store...
" retailers to the former mall site, including Costco
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...
, Kohl's
Kohl's
Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...
, and Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
. This plan forecast bringing more than 1,000 jobs to Harvey, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
.
Soon it was found that the mall contained asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
. The removed debris was hapazardly covered in plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
and the Montgomery Ward renovation and mall demolition were halted in late June 2005. It was also discovered that the demolition and renovation company had acted without a permit. On July 3, 2005, the site renovation project was put on hold until the asbestos issue could be dealt with.
On Christmas Eve 2005, during demolition of Dixie Square Mall's central energy plant (which was being done late at night and illegally, as the asbestos problem had not been resolved), a large portion of the Montgomery Ward building was accidentally demolished as well, ending any chance of its renovation. The mayor of Harvey actually witnessed this personally and stopped the crew from doing any more damage, when he happened to drive past the site.
On February 16, 2006, the entire mall property was sold to developer John Deneen of the Emerald Property Group. The remainder of the Montgomery Ward building was torn down March 1 in a widely publicized stunt, but no progress was made to demolish the rest of the mall afterwards. After the news crews left, so did the demolition companies. Within several months of the Montgomery Ward demolition, liens were placed against the building by several invested companies. Deneen himself threatened the owner of one of these companies with brass knuckles
Brass knuckles
Brass knuckles, also sometimes called knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knuckledusters, are weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles are pieces of metal, usually steel despite their name, shaped to fit around the knuckles...
and a firearm (he pled guilty in 2008 to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon). Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Lisa Madigan
Lisa Madigan has been the 41st Attorney General of the US state of Illinois since 2003, when she became the first female attorney general for Illinois...
also filed lawsuits against Deneen and several previous developers for failing to remove the asbestos in accordance with state law.
On July 20, 2009, a fire broke out in the entrance to Block C during the late afternoon. The cause of the fire is unknown. The fire damaged the Block C entrance to the point where its roof collapsed within a month afterward, and left scorch marks on the exterior of the former Penney's building.
In February 2010 it was reported that Chicago-based developers MG Development South LLC were planning to demolish the remains of the mall and replace them with a mixture of big-box stores and other retail on the site.
On September 23, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...
announced that a $4 million dollar federal grant will be used to demolish the mall. Gov. Quinn also stated that the total cost will be around $5 million, with the remainder of the money coming from federal disaster recovery funds given to the state due to flooding in 2008
June 2008 Midwest floods
The June 2008 Midwestern United States floods were flooding events which affected portions of the Midwest United States. After months of heavy precipitation, a number of rivers overflowed their banks for several weeks at a time and broke through levees at numerous locations. Flooding continued...
. According to officials, demolition was to start in November and take four to six months. As of June 2011, ruins of the mall remained standing with demolition funding still available, but with the demolition project itself mired in government regulatory hurdles.
External links
- Barraclou.com: Dixie Square Mall
- 2003 CLUI Exhibit: "The Best Dead Mall in America"
- Deadmalls.com: Dixie Square Mall
- Exploring Dixie Square Mall
- Labelscar: Dixie Square Mall
- Google Satellite Imagery of Dixie Square Mall pre-demolition
- Photos of the mall in 2011 on Abandoned USA
- "Ghost Mall" Dixie Square, a photo collection on Flickr
- "Documentary of the mall, photo collection of tour"