Circle Centre to add Georgia Street entrance

Circle Centre is adding a new entrance, linking the Downtown shopping center to events and dining along Georgia Street.

Mall manager Simon Property Group Inc. plans to open the entrance on the mall's south side by mid-summer. It will be on Georgia Street between Meridian and Illinois streets. Simon, which manages the mall and owns a 14.7 percent stake in it, did not say how much money it would spend on the entrance.

The project will open the mall up to a three-block stretch of Georgia Street that in recent years has become a hub for Downtown activity. In addition to Georgia Street events such as food truck festivals, people walk along the street to get to the Indiana Convention Center, Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium. But there hasn't been an easy way to enter the mall from that area since before Harry & Izzy's moved in.

Sherry Seiwert, president of Downtown Indy, which manages and markets the Georgia Street event area, said Simon's decision to add a new entrance to Circle Centre is "incredibly welcomed news."

The announcement comes as Circle Centre has lost a handful of retailers. Abercrombie & Fitch, American Greetings, California Pizza Kitchen, Gap, Gap Kids, Johnny Rockets, Johnston & Murphy and Yankee Candle Co. all have closed since the beginning of the year.

But the mall also is adding a few tenants. WNS Apparel, a locally owned apparel and jewelry store, will open on the third floor in March, as will a store called #gifts, another locally owned shop that will sell framed prints, signs and local sports jewelry on the third floor next to Banana Republic.

Punch Bowl Social, a 23,000-square-foot restaurant, bar and entertainment concept, is on pace to open in the fall. And Pittsburgh sandwich shop Primanti Bros. is slated to replace California Pizza Kitchen in the fall.

Simon hopes the new entrance will attract more foot traffic to the Downtown mall, which depends on visitors to conventions and sporting events. Downtown Indy estimates 376,800 people walked along Georgia Street to events in 2015.

“Circle Centre Mall has long been a catalyst for growth in downtown Indianapolis,” Circle Centre General Manager Luke Aeschliman said in a statement. “The addition of a new entrance on the south side of the shopping center will allow our guests to move seamlessly from Circle Centre Mall’s fantastic dining establishments to retail and entertainment destinations inside the mall.”

Call IndyStar reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.