The Village at Pittsburgh Mills sues mall owners over road conditions

Owners of The Village at Pittsburgh Mills are suing the owners of the beleaguered Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, alleging they have failed to maintain the roads there despite being contractually obligated to do so.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, asks the court to find defendants Pitt Galleria Realty, Pitt Realty, Pitt Galleria CH and Pitt Galleria Nassim — the limited liability companies that Namdar Realty Group operates under at the Mills — in breach of their contract, and require them to repair the roads at the mall complex.

The suit was filed by Village at Pitt Mills, Village at Pitt Mills TIC 1, Village at Pitt Mills TIC 2, Village at Pitt Mills TIC 3, Village at Pitt Mills TIC 4 and Village at Pitt Mills TIC 5. Those sare the LLCs First National Realty Partners use to operate the Village, according to the Allegheny County Real Estate Portal.

The Village is a group of free-standing businesses and a small strip mall adjacent to the indoor Mills mall.

The suit also asks the court to award “costs, attorney’s fees and other relief the court deems just and reasonable.” A specific dollar amount is not cited in the suit.

Neither First National Realty Partners nor Namdar officials responded to a request for comment Thursday. Adam Ventura, the attorney representing all of First National’s LLCs, did not respond to a request for comment.

First National claims in the lawsuit that 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.

According to the lawsuit, a 2004 declaration required the defendants, as current mall owners, to maintain the common areas of the Mills complex, including the roads.

Over the past several years, the roads at the Mills “are in a significant state of disrepair,” the lawsuit states. The suit goes on to claim the current state of the roadways presents “trying and dangerous driving conditions.”

First National Realty LLCs presented Namdar with a default notice demanding the roads be repaired and did not receive a response, the suit claims.

Namdar legal woes

Wednesday’s lawsuit is only the latest in a series of legal battles surrounding the Mills complex.

Thursday morning, the companies Namdar operates under at the Mills were found guilty of 364 citations issued by Frazer Township regarding various maintenance violations during a hearing in front of District Judge Michael Girardi.

The fines for the latest slew of citations could exceed $10 million.

This comes after James Berent, the attorney representing Namdar’s LLCs, appealed 36 citations he previously pleaded guilty to during a July 17 hearing in front of Girardi. The fines for those citations totaled $1.8 million.

Real estate trusts for Walmart and Sam’s Club also filed a lawsuit against the owners of the Mills in June, alleging they failed to maintain the complex’s roadways.

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office in April charged the mall owners with creating a public nuisance.

And last year, Frazer filed suit alleging Namdar’s negligence contributed to the poor road conditions.