Kenilworth Mall 2012 updated March 28, 2015

Here is another exclusive mall to the blog. Kenilworth Mall was a shopping center/ mall that was located on Morrison Rd near the I-10 interchange. Kenilworth Mall opened in the then fast growing New Orleans East area just four years before the massive Lake Forest Plaza Mall opened two exits away on Read Blvd and I-10. Any additional photos of this mall will be greatly appreciated southernmalls@gmail.com.

The mall was very similar in size and design to the Inglewood Mall in Morgan City Louisiana. 

Here is a link to a groceteria photo, scroll down to the fourth post for a picture of the mall.

Here is a link showing the damage to the mall from Hurricane Katrina.

Here is a photo of the K&B store from probably around the opening of the mall.

Today this is all that remains of the former mall; the parking lot and foundation.

This building is not part of the mall but it is located just outside of the mall complex.

Kenilworth Mall had the grand opening on July 30, 1970 but some stores opened early (designated next to store list below). The mall had an area inside called the promenade with small shops.

A and P Supermarket
Avalon Bazaar
Bagert Drycleaners
Bresslers 33 Flavors
Burger King (outparcel)
The Chateau Fashions (Opened March 21, 1970)
Diners/ Fugazy Travel
Franks Beauty Parlor
Jennies Hallmark Cards
Katz and Besthoff Drug Store (K and B) (Opened February 16, 1970)
Kenilworth Barber Shop
Kenilworth Cinema (Opened Aug 13, 1969 with the movie Ice Station Zebra)
Kenilworth Fashion Fabrics
S H Kress Family Store (Opened at the end of 1969)
Lake Forest Inc.
Mel's Monograms (Opened June 1970)
Mr K's Boutique
Music Monitor
National Bank of Commerce
New Dimension Gift Shop
Shakey's Pizza
Style Line Ladies Wear
V and L Coins and Gifts
Vision Plaza East
Wig Castle

The mall suffered for years and did not have too many businesses left in 1999; my only visit to this center. K and B was still here after Rite Aid took over and a few small spaces were in business. The mall was flooded during Hurricane Katrina and sat for a few years until the site was demolished. The Burger King unit that was next to the mall has also been demolished. As you will see in my next New Orleans East articles, nearly all of the I-10 East retail has been wiped out because of Hurricane damage. Wal-Mart, Sams Club, Sears Appliances, The Grand Cinema, Dillard's, Sav A Center, Big Lots, Toys R Us, and several small shops are all gone.

Jackson Brewery Millhouse Mall New Orleans Louisiana

Jackson Brewery Millhouse opened September 27, 1986 as the second part of the redevelopment of the former brewery. This section of the development only took 7 1/2 months to build despite a small electrical fire in May of 1986 which pushed the opening back a month. This project was completed ahead of the grand opening of the nearby Riverwalk Marketplace which opened less than a month later. This addition is listed as  85,000 square feet. In the July of 1986 article, no mention of the food court is made, but nearly half of the second floor today facing the river is the food court.  

Stores at the grand opening (opened 80% occupied)

Accessory Lady's Add On's (accessories)

All Wrapped Up (gift wrap service)

Benetton (fashion)

Inkadinkadoo (rubber stamp shop)

It's the Dickens (needlework shop)

Managerie (paper mache animals)

Mega Magnets (this one should be obvious)

Naturelle (fashion)

Shooting Stars (pose for photos with celebrities)

The Limited (fashion)

The Procrastination Headquarters (gifts revolving around the theme of procrastination)

Jubilee Market third floor (kiosks, counters, and stalls with merchandise and food)

The fourth floor had a Birraporetti's restaurant (Houston chain)

The fifth floor was going to have a powerful New Orleans restaurant overlooking the river views and French Quarter. 

First floor

Second floor

Elevator to the third floor, with the food court sign in the background.

The Food Court stretches across the river side of the second floor.

Back to the first floor

The 2013 store list 

Many stores are geared towards tourists, but there are a couple national chains here.

Several views of the Millhouse from the river and parking lot side of the building.

The first phase of the Jackson Brewery will be covered at a later time. A third phase of the project which was scheduled to be completed in December 1987 which would have fixed up a nearby warehouse to have a grocery and drugstore, was never started. The bad economy of New Orleans in the mid 1980's saw many projects stalled or cancelled due to the "Oil bust". 

East Lake Center/ Wal Mart/ Sam's Club/ Service Merchandise NO East

This stretch of I-10 in between Read Blvd. and Bundy Rd. has seen better days. Once this area was full of retail and entertainment options, but now only a couple of businesses remain. The first photo is the former Service Merchandise that is now a church; the site of the Lake Forest Plaza Mall is to the left or east of this building. The Plaza Mall will have a huge article soon that goes over the early history of the mall similar to the Belle Promenade and Kenilworth articles from earlier this year, stay tuned.

This was the Eastlake shopping center anchored by Delchamps, Eastlake 8 cinemas, and several other retailers including Children's Palace and a small Sears after the Plaza Sears closed. There were also a few restaurants in the front such as Texas Roadhouse.

This Furinture Mart is the only piece of this shopping center left standing and in business. This was once a Delchamp's that was unfortunately closed overnight without any warning to the employees.  

The next few pictures are the now empty lots that the shopping center, former Wal mart, and Sam's Club were on before Hurricane Katrina. Everything was demolished, but nothing has been rebuilt. If anyone from Wal mart is reading this article, please come back to New Orleans East!

Six Flags/Jazzland Outlet Mall New Orleans East (Amusement/ Retail)

The short history of this theme park is a very sad one indeed. A casualty of Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags/Jazzland was built in 2000 to fill the void left behind when Pontchartrain Beach park closed in the mid 1980's. The park was opened as Jazzland and then Six Flags purchased the park two years later. In August of 2005 Hurricane Katrina's flood waters filled the site and sat for weeks until it was pumped out. The site has been sitting idle ever since, and Six Flags removed most of the valuables from the site. Six Flags wound up getting out of the site lease in 2009, and the city now owns the land. Click here for a really cool youtube video from inside of the park. Since 2006 several proposals have come and gone for the site, but nothing has happened yet. So you ask yourself why is a theme park on this retail site?

The most recent proposal for the site is for a factory outlet mall, which was approved by the city after several other plans for the site were rejected including two proposals to rebuild and refurbish the theme park. Now I am all for this site to be fixed up, but not as a mall it should be a theme park or demolished entirely. The site that the Plaza Mall was on two exits away on Read Blvd is still sitting there with only a Lowes and an abandoned movie theater. The rest of that site was planned to be a lifestyle center similar to the outdoor outlet mall proposed for the Six Flags site. The Plaza Site is centrally located to the population of New Orleans East, and it has better I-10 freeway access than the Six Flags site. I would also rather see the Kenilworth site redeveloped than to tear down the remains of the theme park on swampland and start all over. If a factory outlet mall is built here I wish it the best of success, but the location in my opinion is not an ideal spot for the largest retail development in New Orleans East.    



All of the photos here were taken from around the site; sorry for those of you looking for interior photos (click here).

Six flags is visible from all around the area of I-510 and I-10 East. There is also a neighborhood just to the east of the site that has some decent views of the park.

The Megazeph was built as a tribute to the Zephyr roller coaster at Pontchartrain Beach park.

As you can see the site towers over the land at the I-10/ I-510 interchange.

New Orleans Centre/ Champions Square

This drawing from the opening ad of the mall shows the basic floor design of the mall.

New Orleans Centre opened in 1988 with Lord and Taylor and Macy's as the two anchors. A third anchor was planned but never arrived. The mall had space for 150 stores, opened with 50 stores, and had around 100 stores at the malls peak. The New Orleans Centre had three floors and a huge glass skylight over the main concourse of the mall. Three story malls built in the 1980's seem to be failing all over the United States. The mall had a large food court with several restaurants facing the Superdome. The New Orleans Centre never had a full occupancy and was struggling shortly after opening. A television station even moved their station into a large portion of the nearly empty third floor of the mall. Lord and Taylor closed in the early 2000's shutting off the Poydras street entrance to the mall. The mall was flooded out during Hurricane Katrina and did not reopen. The mall was used in the movie The Final Destination for the scene where the ladies were shopping and then when the escalators fell apart. One part of that scene from the movie shows the nearby Benson tower from the angle that was seen through the mall skylights. The mall and tower complex was purchased by the New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson in 2009. The mall was partially torn down and that area is now called Champions Square and has several Saints and Louisiana sports related murals. Champions Square is used for mostly sports related gatherings, and the Macy's has partially been turned into a VIP area for the events. Someone went and took photos of the Macy's before the store was transformed. Since the New Orleans Centre mall was not going to be reopened after Hurricane Katrina so this was the best option for the site. Hopefully this area of the city will still be popular despite the scandal surrounding the New Orleans Saints organization.

The small entrance near the bottom left corner of this photo goes into the former Macy's anchor.

Some portions of the mall are exposed to the elements just above Champions Square.

The newly renovated Superdome just across the street from the former mall.

Click on this link http://projects.citadelbuilders.com/projectpage.aspx and go to the entertainment tab and then to Dome Square Phase 1B to see photos of the mall as it was being demolished and made into the Champions Square.