Pittsburgh Mills: From 1-stop shop to disarray

With recent legal developments, including hundreds of township-issued citations, criminal charges and a lawsuit filed by real estate trusts for Walmart and Sam’s Club, Namdar Realty Group, the owners of Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, continues to remain under the microscope for the property’s alleged mismanagement and slow decay.

How did the ever-evolving situation get to this point?

Rave opening

When The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills opened in 2005, it was marketed as the next one-stop shop for shopping, entertainment and dining. The second-largest mall in Western Pennsylvania, the Mills boasted 1 million square feet and featured retailers such as H&M and hangouts including Lucky Strike Lanes.

Popular restaurants, such as Johnny Rockets, stood just down the complex from a mega-screen Cinemark movie theater. The mall also featured a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course, a Starbucks and an arcade. In later years, an indoor rope course with a zip line was added to the mix.

The honeymoon phase, however, didn’t last long.

Falling short

Then-owners The Mills Corp., Zamias Services and KanAm Group made promises for entertainment attractions that never came to fruition. Shortly after the mall’s opening, The Mills Corp. (now Simon Property Group) sold its stake to Zamias Services.

In the years between 2007 and 2015, major retailers including Borders bookstore and Sears Grand closed, and the mall fell into foreclosure in 2017. The Mills property was auctioned to mortgage holder Wells Fargo for $100 in January 2017.

Namdar enters the scene

Namdar Realty swooped in and paid $11 million for the property in 2018 but never appeared to invest further in the complex.

Like other Namdar properties, such as Beaver Valley Mall in Center Township, Logan Valley Mall in Altoona, Nittany Mall in College Township, Berkshire Mall in Wyomissing and three other Pennsylvania malls the company owns, Namdar refused to invest in the Mills property and let it fall into disrepair.

Namdar officials did not immediately respond to a TribLive request for comment for this story.

Major shops flee

The company avoided a sheriff’s sale in 2023 after paying $11.5 million in accrued special assessments. Frazer supervisors filed a lawsuit against Namdar in September 2024, claiming the company ignored $4.5 million in repairs to the pothole-riddled roads throughout the complex.

In the same month, Panera Bread, a restaurant that had been in the Mills since its opening, announced it would be vacating its storefront to fill the former Steak ’n Shake restaurant building in the Village at Pittsburgh Mills near Lowe’s.

Panera was one of the few remaining businesses in the mall, which has a 75% vacancy rate, according to the township’s last count in October.

In April, less than a year later, Macy’s in the Mills was put on the market, signaling another nail in the coffin of the beleaguered mall. The department store’s exit left Dick’s Sporting Goods as the mall’s only remaining anchor tenant.

The sporting goods store’s fate was questioned in January when construction for a new Dick’s location began at the Waterworks near Aspinwall — just 9 miles from the Mills. The Mills boasts two other national retailers: Bath and Body Works and Jo-Ann, which is going out of business.

Legal issues

More recently, Mills owners waived their June preliminary hearing and are waiting for a court date after Pitt Galleria LLC, one of the limited liability corporations that New York-based Namdar Realty Group operates under, was charged with creating a public nuisance by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office in April.

Namdar Realty Group has just under 200 township-issued citations against them, Bill Payne, Frazer’s building inspector, recently told TribLive. Potholes; knee-high grass; inoperable doors; and parking lot, sidewalk and road conditions were included in the violations.

Real estate trusts for Walmart and Sam’s Club are suing Mills owners, accusing them of breaching their contract that requires repairs to the roads at the mall complex, among other things. The suit states the roads in the mall complex — including Village Center Drive, which goes from Pittsburgh Mills Boulevard back to their stores — are in need of more than $5 million in repairs.

In addition to making those road repairs, the suit also seeks damages of more than $229,700 and any further relief the court deems just and reasonable.