About 20 years ago that part of Austin was affluent and growing. The mall was hopping. Then it got the yutes coming around. Techies and successful people moved out to the burbs and the mall saw a drop in clientele. The influx of ferals then jumped the interstate and started living on the west side of I-35 (where the mall is) in all the apartments that were left vacant and had to drop their rent to attract tenants and all was lost.
Every business around there started moving (there was several upscale businesses like a yacht dealer and high end autos). Then the “Texas Relays” happened. An annual track meet held where 90% of the attendees are black. After track meets the would congregate at the mall. This successfully ran off the rest of what middle class folks went there. Businesses started closing during the meet which brought allegations of racism from the local NAACP. Soon after that what large businesses that were left relocated to other malls or simply closed. Now it is mainly an empty parking lot with a handful of stores.
Sounds like Sharpstown Mall, in Houston. Only Sharpstown went into it’s spiral more like 25 - 30 years ago.
AND an ACC (Austin Community College) "campus" where my wife ignorantly registered for a class not long ago.
I took her to those classes, waited in the truck and picked her up at the door afterwords.
She thought that was dumb and unnecessary until about the third class when she saw who was hanging around the entrance after class...