Cumberland redevelopment study advances for Washington Square Mall site

A pre-development study is moving forward for the Washington Square Mall site, a major commercial tract in the Cumberland area of east Indianapolis whose future could affect nearby housing, retail, employment, traffic and municipal services.

Cumberland Town Manager Ben Lipps joined Indianapolis City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart and development partners in announcing the study on Feb. 4. The organizations named in the announcement include Lauth Group, Schmidt Associates and the Local Initiatives Support Corp.

What the study will examine

The study is intended to examine redevelopment possibilities for the mall site. It represents an early step in considering what future uses might be appropriate for a large, underperforming commercial property near the Cumberland community.

For residents and businesses, the immediate development is the study itself—not a construction project or an approved redevelopment plan. The announcement does not identify specific housing, retail, employment or public-service projects that will be built at the site.

That distinction matters because the site’s future could eventually influence how people live, work and travel in the area. Possible future decisions could be relevant to renters, homeowners, workers, shoppers, commuters, taxpayers and local businesses, but the available report does not establish what those effects will be.

No final project has been announced

The available report does not provide a study completion date, cost, selected redevelopment plan or approved construction project. It also does not establish that the Washington Square site lies inside Cumberland’s municipal limits; the coverage describes it as a Cumberland-area site, while identifying Cumberland’s town manager as a participant.

As a result, the announcement should be read as a preliminary redevelopment effort rather than a final land-use decision. No specific number of housing units, jobs or tax revenue can be reported from the current information, and no traffic change has been established.

A separate Hancock County public hearing notice published in July 2026 confirms active county-level public-government proceedings in the broader Cumberland/Greenfield regional jurisdiction, but it does not approve the Washington Square project.

The next known step is the pre-development study. The available materials do not provide a deadline for its completion or identify when officials and development partners will release findings or seek approval for a specific plan.