Pittsburgh Mills owners ordered to pay millions more for poor road, sidewalk, building conditions

Legal woes continue to mount for the owners of the Pittsburgh Mills mall after they were found guilty of another 364 code violations Thursday.

District Judge Michael Girardi handed down fines of differing amounts depending on the individual violations during a hearing for the four limited liability companies that, together, own the mall and property around it. All of the companies are owned by New York-based Namdar Realty Group.

The total amount of fines, while not yet official, could exceed $10 million.

The fines are in addition to $1.8 million in fines Namdar pleaded guilty to in July.

So far, the company hasn’t paid anything toward those fines.

The citations were filed over the state of the property’s sidewalks and roads as well as structural issues and rodent harborage in the mall building. Frazer building inspector Bill Payne issued the citations in April and May. Payne filed each citation four times, once for each of the four companies listed as owners of the mall.

Roads

The citations were addressed in groups, with the first being a slew of citations regarding road conditions.

Payne said different roads throughout Namdar’s property have had outstanding citations for 156 days as of Thursday morning. Some of the sections of road have no asphalt left and are only gravel, Payne said. He presented photos of specific roads and specifically mentioned Fashion Drive, Village Center Drive, the mall’s entrance off Butler-Logan Road and a road used by Walmart and Sam’s Club for deliveries.

Frazer police Officer Cole Berg said the township’s fire department no longer can use the Butler-Logan Road mall entrance to respond to incidents at the mall even though Frazer Volunteer Fire Department No. 2 is located just off Butler-Logan less than a mile from that entrance.

He said the situation causes delayed response times to emergencies.

Berg also brought 74 complaints filed with the police department regarding different incidents caused by potholes on the property.

“(Complaints) have not been going away, just getting worse day by day,” he said.

James Berent, the attorney representing each of Namdar’s companies, said road conditions are already being discussed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas as a result of a lawsuit filed by Frazer Township in 2024. He said the mall’s owners have submitted road repair proposals that were rejected by the township.

Payne acknowledged some potholes had been filled with gravel in the past. He labeled it a temporary solution, adding that some of the potholes had already returned.

“The defendants have unsuccessfully attempted to repair potholes. Yes, you’re correct,” Payne said.

Payne said Namdar proposed a repair project that would give the roads 4 inches of asphalt. He said the plan did not meet the township’s standards requiring 8 inches of asphalt. He said 4 inches would leave curbs and manhole covers too high for vehicles to drive safely. The Mills complex was originally constructed with 6 inches of asphalt.

Berent asked Girardi to take into consideration that negotiations about road treatment are taking place and Namdar is attempting to get township approval before carrying out the work — all while being cited and fined. Berent asked Payne to clarify whether Namdar would be able to carry out work without the township’s approval.

“If the roads are fixed without the township, that’s your prerogative,” Payne said. “If they’re not up to code, the township will issue notice of violations.”

Doors

The next group of citations covered what Payne said were at least 68 doors in the mall that need to be fixed or replaced. He submitted photos of each of the doors. Some were rusted shut, including a set of double doors leading to the mall office from outside. He claimed if any employees were in the office space at the time of a fire, they’d be unable to escape.

Some of the doors were cited for rodent harborage since they have holes in them that enable pests to enter the mall.

Sidewalks

The final group of citations addressed the condition of sidewalks around the exterior of the building.

Payne said the sidewalk leading to the exterior entrance of Citizens School of Nursing is buckling, crumbling and a tripping hazard. He also mentioned the sidewalk and ramp leading to the exterior entrance of GQT Theater is a tripping hazard.

Payne said the mall is regularly used by elderly people who walk around for exercise and need safe access to sidewalks to enter.

Fine breakdown

Berent argued that citations regarding road conditions were a parallel matter to the one being discussed in Allegheny County Court, asking Girardi to take into account that the LLCs are being cited and fined while participating in the slower process of negotiating with township officials before doing work on the roads.

“We see the road issues and we’re dealing with it at Common Pleas. … We want to get that figured out,” Berent said. “And we see what you’re doing by citing every piece of rust and crack you see in the sidewalk — trying to put pressure on fixing the roads. And we’re doing that in Common Pleas.”

Payne said negotiations have been taking place for a year.

Frazer’s legal representation, Francesca Iovino, said the township has had to file two motions with the court to compel Namdar representatives to respond during negotiations. She likened the negotiation process with Namdar to a “bait and switch.”

“(Namdar has) known about these issues,” Payne said. “They just choose not to address them.”

Girardi said, since the active litigation pertains to a contract dispute and not code violations, the matters were separate.

After hearing from both parties, Girardi found the LLCs guilty of all citations filed by Payne.

Girardi said since three doors are unable to be opened due to rust, the citations pertaining to those doors will be set for $50,000 each.

Each citation has its own fines and costs. So each citation, even if it’s for the same charge filed against multiple LLCs, needs to be paid individually if the owners are found guilty of a violation.

The other door citations, an exact number of which was not given during the hearing, received $20,000 fines for each.

Girardi said sidewalk violations each received a $50,000 fine, and road citations received $75,000 fines.

Exact numbers of each type of citation were not immediately released by the court while lawyers from both sides worked to total the number and cost of citations.

Berent declined to comment about the results of the hearing.