Muncie Mall to be fully demolished
The future of the Muncie Mall is a full demolition. As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, that’s the newest plan from the mall’s owner.
“All we know is it’s not gonna survive as it is. It has to be demolished completely,” says John Mulherin with Hull Property Group.
Hull bought the Muncie Mall in 2024. He says the company’s original plan to tear down parts of the mall and re-do the interior is no longer viable. That’s because the mall has a 92 percent vacancy rate.
Mulherin says the tenants aren’t leaving Muncie, they’re just leaving the “failed mall.” And new retailers aren’t interested.
“I know for a fact there are three major retailers that are looking at the Muncie market…. But they’re not coming to the mall,” he says. “We’ve talked to them. They’re not coming to the mall in its current configuration.”
Hull’s new plan is to demolish the entire building – except for the portion that Buyer’s Market owns. Then, the company will redevelop the 25-acre site with an interested “national wholesale club” fronting McGalliard Road, other interested retailers, and, according to the long-term plan, apartments.
“You build $65 million worth of apartments, it’s gonna hit the books at $40 million in valuation.”
Mulherin says demolishing the anchor stores can take place beginning next month. But the interior section won’t happen until the last tenant moves out. He says that could take between six months and two years.
The Muncie Redevelopment Commission had already committed $2.5 million in tax increment financing for the original mall redevelopment plan. On Thursday, the MRC committed another $2.8 million to the new plan. The company does not receive that tax money until it shows improvement that generates taxes.
Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour had long talked about the Muncie Mall having the “second largest assessed value” in the city of Muncie at $32 million. But in June 2025, the mall was reassessed for $4.7 million, according to Muncie Redevelopment Commission Director Jeff Howe. This week, Hull said the mall is valued at about $2 million.
The mall’s future has been uncertain for the last several years. The Muncie Mall lost its first anchor store in 2018 as part of a national decline in sales, eventually losing all its anchor stores. New managers, The Woodmont Company, took over in 2020 to market the mall for sale from Washington Prime Group. The next year, Washington Prime filed for bankruptcy and stopped paying the building’s mortgage. The mall was eventually sold to Wells Fargo Bank in a county sheriff’s sale in 2023 so the financing bank could recoup losses. In January 2024, Hull Property Group from Augusta, Georgia, purchased the mall. The company has a record of mall revitalization, including by demolishing and reconfiguring parts of mall complexes in other states.
Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host. Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.
