Monroeville Mall vs Westmoreland Mall (Pittsburgh, Altoona: real estate, leasing, how much)

[neurodistortion]

It goes without saying that Monroeville Mall was the dominant shopping center in the eastern suburbs for so many years even though the last few years has been rough on the mall. Unfortunately, a lot of the higher end shops have since left, leaving mainly a mixture of midrange shops and small businesses. On the other hand, it seems like Westmoreland is on the verge of becoming the preferred destination for retailers. Stores ranging from Pandora to Buckle, Zumiez and Sephora have opened there in the past year or so, and there's virtually very little vacancy in the main complex and the adjoining strip center. I'd say ten years ago, these stores would've considered leasing space at Monroeville instead, but it seems like they're looking further east now. Of course, both properties are owned by the same real estate company so they're basically competing against themselves but I think the future for both centers will be interesting to see.

[zip95]

No competition since to most Allegheny count residents Greensburg is as as far away as Altoona. Just too far off of the beaten path. I would call Greenburg the Paris of the Laural Highlands... What is happening can be caricatured as the upscale-ization of Westmoreland county. Just travel route 30, you will see vestiges of run-down rural Pennsylvania intermixed with 1000's (literally) of new-build McMansions. North Huntingdon is a perfect example of this. As Westmoreland county continues expanding it's upper middle class demographic you should expect more upscale stores to appear at the Westmoreland mall.

[neurodistortion]

I agree that part of the reason we're seeing this in Westmoreland County is because of the evolving income demographic, but I think that with the case of Monroeville Mall, we're seeing more people from North Huntingdon and anywhere else within a 15 minute radius of the Monroeville area skipping it to go to Westmoreland for any number of reasons despite that Monroeville is in closer range than Greensburg.

[Love2Golf09]

Monroeville Mall has a bad reputation. To many folks, it's worse than Century III. Century III is completely dead, but Monroeville is violent. There are a lot of bad stories in the papers and videos on youtube about assaults and thefts, usually committed by a black person, going on there. Scary stuff, which i'm sure terrifies anyone not from that area. Of course, this fits right in with the idea that Monroeville is in massive decline and will go the way of Penn Hills or West Mifflin. I remember reading an article last year about trouble at the mall and Monroeville residents were talking about driving all the way to Ross Park Mall. Crazy.

Also, I've know a lot of people from North Huntingdon, Hempfield, Latrobe, etc and a lot of them seemed to have almost a disgust for the city. To them, everything in Allegheny County was Pittsburgh, and they talked as if it was a rundown, ghetto, dump and really saw no reason at all to go there unless it was absolutely necessary. Years ago, it was a huge deal for folks to travel all the way to Monroeville or Century III. Now days, not so much.

[neurodistortion]

I could recall many years ago when Century III was the place to go to despite the distance from Greensburg. We've made countless trips through the countryside, down I-70 to 51, to get there. They've always decorated nicely for Christmas and we even bought our first dog there. It had that unique vibe which no other mall had in the area, similar to the vibe when Monroeville had the ice rink, but we noticed that it started to decline by the late 1990s so we eventually stopped going.

[Lock-Os]

I go to Monroeville Mall all the time and never felt afraid. But yes, that mall has been in decline for a long time. Still, Westmoreland is in the middle of nowhere, so I don't get how people find that much time to make the trip.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

Monroeville Mall has a bad reputation. To many folks, it's worse than Century III. Century III is completely dead, but Monroeville is violent. There are a lot of bad stories in the papers and videos on youtube about assaults and thefts, usually committed by a black person, going on there. Scary stuff, which i'm sure terrifies anyone not from that area. Of course, this fits right in with the idea that Monroeville is in massive decline and will go the way of Penn Hills or West Mifflin.

Monroeville has always struck me as diverse, both in people and in housing stock. I don't get the sense that it's in decline. Furthermore, one nasty habit I've noticed among some Pittsburghers is that they embellish the bad. Quite frankly, their threshold for "ghetto" would be laughed at in most other major U.S. cities.

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

I remember reading an article last year about trouble at the mall and Monroeville residents were talking about driving all the way to Ross Park Mall. Crazy.

Of course, Ross Park Mall also has several stores that cannot be found anywhere else in the Pittsburgh area, so it's only natural that it has a regional draw.

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

Also, I've know a lot of people from North Huntingdon, Hempfield, Latrobe, etc and a lot of them seemed to have almost a disgust for the city. To them, everything in Allegheny County was Pittsburgh, and they talked as if it was a rundown, ghetto, dump and really saw no reason at all to go there unless it was absolutely necessary.

Those tend to be the people who pretend that the quality of life in whichever exurb they live in would remain intact even if the major city nearby wasn't there. The irony is, all the population growth in recent years and most of the income growth since 2000 has occurred in Allegheny County. The central county is becoming more affluent and productive, and the surrounding counties aren't keeping up too well.

[Love2Golf09]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

The irony is, all the population growth in recent years and most of the income growth since 2000 has occurred in Allegheny County.

I'm not up to speed on the yearly estimates, but has Allegheny County really had more population growth than Butler County in recent years? Even if using raw numbers, rather than percentages, I would be shocked if that were true. Even Washington County has had some population growth recently, although not that massive, it's still growth.

[neurodistortion]

Originally Posted by Lock-Os

I go to Monroeville Mall all the time and never felt afraid. But yes, that mall has been in decline for a long time. Still, Westmoreland is in the middle of nowhere, so I don't get how people find that much time to make the trip.

Well it's the same idea of people going to Ross Park even though Monroeville is much closer to them. Still, Westmoreland is no Ross Park so if I had to choose one to go to, Ross Park would be my choice.

[ryanm3685]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

Monroeville Mall has a bad reputation. To many folks, it's worse than Century III. Century III is completely dead, but Monroeville is violent. There are a lot of bad stories in the papers and videos on youtube about assaults and thefts, usually committed by a black person, going on there. Scary stuff, which i'm sure terrifies anyone not from that area. Of course, this fits right in with the idea that Monroeville is in massive decline and will go the way of Penn Hills or West Mifflin. I remember reading an article last year about trouble at the mall and Monroeville residents were talking about driving all the way to Ross Park Mall. Crazy.

I googled Monroeville Mall and some videos of bad incidents came up on the second page. That said, Monroeville Mall was my usual shopping center until the Pittsburgh Mills opened up (it's a bit closer to me). I've never felt unsafe shopping there, even at night. I don't know any people from my area who forgo Monroeville Mall for Ross just for safety concerns. Instead, they would go just because Ross is more upscale. If the Mall truly was a warzone I feel like there would be a lot more empty parking spaces . Of course there would be a lot less stores I see no signs of Monroeville Mall following the footsteps of Parkway Center Mall and becoming a ghost town. The idea of Monroeville declining seems believable, but I think that their strong commercial presence will prevent them from hitting the skids to the degree of the Homewood bordering section of Penn Hills. For the record, I feel that there are plenty of decent areas in Penn Hills; I shop at the Giant Eagle on Rodi Road at night.

Also, I've know a lot of people from North Huntingdon, Hempfield, Latrobe, etc and a lot of them seemed to have almost a disgust for the city. To them, everything in Allegheny County was Pittsburgh, and they talked as if it was a rundown, ghetto, dump and really saw no reason at all to go there unless it was absolutely necessary. Years ago, it was a huge deal for folks to travel all the way to Monroeville or Century III. Now days, not so much.

Love2Golf09, politely inform those people that Pittsburgh is 58.3 square miles, but Allegheny County is 745 square miles. Clearly most of Allegheny County is not within Pittsburgh city limits. Suggest that they take a trip to see a neighborhood like Squirrel Hill which is clean, safe, and has a lot of beautiful houses. I am not sure why they would think everything within the city (let alone the county) is a dump. Moreover, maybe some of them will score tickets to a Pirate or Steeler game and they would see the fabulous North Shore. They would have to rethink their opinion of how much of Pittsburgh is a dump. I'm sure there are less than desirable areas of Westmoreland County, but would I be justified in calling a huge area a dump? They don't sound like bad people at all, rather, they just got some misinformation.