Pittsburgh Mills mall owners waive preliminary hearing for criminal charge
Owners of the Pittsburgh Mills mall are waiting to hear a trial date after waiving their preliminary hearing Monday.
Pitt Galleria LLC, a limited liability corporation that New York-based Namdar Realty Group operates through, was charged with creating a public nuisance by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office in April.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, road conditions impede emergency services’ access to the property and increase response time.
“The public nuisance charge is a misdemeanor 2, which has a maximum fine of $5,000,” Rebecca Spangler, first assistant district attorney, said in an email.
A formal arraignment was scheduled for July 17, Spangler said. A trial or guilty plea date will be decided at a future pretrial conference.
Namdar did not respond a request for comment.
Current citations
More citations are expected to be added to the ever-growing list against the owners of Pittsburgh Mills.
Frazer’s building inspector Bill Payne said no citations have been officially added to the ones already out, he expects to be writing more this week.
“First I have the notice of violation and now I’m citing off those notices of violations,” Payne said. “I’ve cited for the roadways. I’ve cited for the parking lot, the mall driveway and I’ve cited for some door issues.”
Payne said he’s going to continue to cite doors after discovering several doors rusted shut or rotting, and the next citations will be issued for the deterioration of the property’s sidewalks and ADA ramps.
“There’s quite a few citations out and there’s an opportunity to write a lot more,” Payne said.
Fines for the citations range between $300 and $1,000 per day, per citation, Payne said. He said the fines begin the day the defendant receives a notice of violation. Namdar Realty Group currently has just under 200 citations against them, Payne said. The company has 30 days from each notice of violation to bring whatever was cited to compliance. After that time, Payne has the ability to begin writing citations.
“Ultimately, it’s up to the court to determine what the cap amount (on a fine) is,” he said.
Payne recently posted 73 pages of orange violations on display inside the mall. He found the violations in and around the nearly 1 million-square-foot building. Potholes, knee-high grass, inoperable doors and parking lot, sidewalk and road conditions were included in the violations named.
He’s waiting for a court date to be set for the charges.
Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com.
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