Louisiana mall could be next on demolition list

The partial demolition of a shopping mall in Metairie, Louisiana, in suburban New Orleans, appears to be nearing now that a restaurant mall tenant has started to prepare a new location in a mall parking lot.

Regional media reports refer to Clearview Mall as the target of a “long-planned demolition” that is moving closer with relocation plans for mall tenant Zea Rotisserie & Bar now underway.

According to a 2022 article on Nola.com, the mall (also known as Clearview Shopping Center) opened in 1969 on a 32-acre parcel of land.

This decade, the owners of the mall and the land beneath it have undertaken a $100 million redevelopment project that, in addition to partial mall demolition, has plans to include a 270-unit apartment complex, a hotel, a clinic, restaurant and retail tenants “and space for festivals and events.”

According to an early August online report by New Orleans-based WDSU-TV, the new Zea Rotisserie & Bar location is scheduled to open next February 2026.

The completion of that construction and move-in process will “enable the demolition of the former mall building and accelerate a multiyear construction schedule,” according to the TV station.

Another online account says the demolition process will involve taking down “the old mall and the former Bed Bath & Beyond building next door.”

A 2010 news release issued by the property managers of Clearview Mall refers to it as having 700,000 square feet of enclosed space.

A shift in United States retail habits has caused the closure and subsequent demolition of numerous shopping malls in the U.S. this decade, while other mall owners have sought to repurpose the buildings as distribution centers or in other capacities.