Which airport? The new one at the former SAC base opened in Spring, 1999. The old one (and the area around it) was pretty run down by that point.
You might be thinking of Highland Mall. It looks like it was just north of the old airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Mall
It was 1999. I remember the year. I was staying at the Baymont and it didnt seem too far from that mall.
I also got off the wrong ramp or was coming out of the airport and noticed a strip club - it seemed all by itself on a dark side road. Sure didn’t look like an area I wanted to b around.
The mall I saw in the daytime; wound up turning around there. First time I’d seen an abandoned Applebee’s. So the whole thing was closed down by 1999. Looks like that other mall closed in 2015(?) - I’ll have to look again.