This Abandoned Gigantic Oregon Mall is Surprisingly Still Open

This still-open mall has 1.5 million square feet of space, was remodeled in 2017, and today looks completely empty.

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1.5 Million Square Foot Oregon Mall is Open but Completely Abandoned

If you grew up near Portland over the last 65 years, you probably have shopped here at least once. Originally built in 1960, the origins of this gigantic mall date back to 1923. A Southern Californian oil company executive named Ralph B. Lloyd came up with the idea to build a residency structure for both businesses and homes all under one roof. His idea was delayed because of large world events like the Great Depression and World Wars before trying to eventually make it a reality in Portland, Oregon. His lifetime dream opened finally in August of 1960 with 100 stores like Nordstrom's Shoes, J. C. Penney, Woolworth, and J. J. Newberry. When this mall opened in 1960, it was the largest mall in the northwest and it claimed to be the largest mall in the entire United States. In both 1972 and 1973, the mall saw huge expansions eventually expanding the inside square footage to 1,472,000 feet.

The Mall has a Huge Ice Skating Rink

If you like to ice skate, you still can at this mall believe it or not. The ice rink was built back in 1960 and is still fairly popular today. It was once the world's first open-air shopping center rink and was also where former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding learned to skate. The skating rink was turned inside with the renovations in the 1990s and then reduced in size from its original shape in 2014. Maybe now that the ice skating rink is the main attraction for the mall, they will re-expand the ice back to its original form, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Renovations Started in the Late 1980s

The mall started getting run down in the 1980s leading to the start of many renovations. Even with constant renovations throughout the 1990s until 2021, the mall kept losing big key anchor companies. JCPenney closed in June 1998, followed by Newberry's, Meier & Frank, Nordstrom, the Regal 8 Cinema, Sears, Marshalls, Macy's, and more. After changing ownership a few times, there was a two-alarm fire that happened in the basement of the mall that made it close for about a month in 2021. Then on November 1, 2021, the KKR Real Estate Finance Trust which owns the property announced they would be foreclosing on the mall by the end of the year due to missing over a year of payments on a loan originally taken out to purchase the mall from its previous owner.

The Lloyd Center Mall: Portland, Oregon

If you can't already tell, I am talking about the Lloyd Center Mall which is located just outside of downtown Portland at 2201 Lloyd Center, Portland, OR 97232. The mall is still open and actually has just under 80 current vendors that I could find on their website. Wikipedia says they still have no anchor vendors with 4 very large spaces open. You can still visit the mall most days until 8 pm if you want to walk around and check it out for yourself. It seems such a shame to waste all that amazing building space when it still seems to be in such good shape. If you can't visit for yourself, watch the video below of a walk through the gigantic empty mall just a few weeks ago.