Renovated Century III Mall could be put up for sale soon (Pittsburgh: real estate, foreclosure)

[Evergrey]

Renovated Century III Mall could be put up for sale soon | TribLIVE

C-III Capital Partners LLC of Irving, Texas, a real estate and loan servicing company, took ownership of the 33-year-old West Mifflin mall a year ago, paying Simon Property Group $1 under a deed in lieu of foreclosure deal.

Since then, crews replaced much of the mall’s original roof to stop leaks, said Gina Mercorelli, mall manager.

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Port Authority service cutbacks hurt the mall, she said.

Shoppers at a Port Authority stop outside the mall said far fewer buses run to Century III and other Route 51 retail centers compared to two years ago.

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[trackstar13]

Wow this mall went downhill fast, I remember going to Danny's and visiting the mall with my parents. It is a shame what has happened to Century III and these pictures are great nostalgia: Flickr: C3Nostalgia - Century III Mall

[Clint.]

Pretty cool pictures - that may have been the first Chik-Fil-A in the region, which says something about how popular that mall used to be before new retail development, and some demographic change, shifted retail dollars away from that mall.

I'm curious about who will buy it and what will be done with it. The building is obviously too big to be fully occupied by retailers again; there is just too much competition, both from other retailing centers like the Waterfront, and the big box stores and strips malls that popped up around its periphery, which themselves have fallen into varyign states of dilapidation. Good lesson in "sprawl" - even though all that land (Century Square, Southland) was located very close to the mall and seemed to be a good deal to developers at the time (and no doubt was a good deal for the short term developers) the market couldn't support that much retail and it collapsed...or at least parts of it collapsed.

It could be subdivided into something I suppose, but I don't know how much demand there is out that way for office spaces, or who would want to locate there. It's a bit of an nonstarter, I'm afraid. I may just not be imaginative enough, though. I'm sure West Mifflin would like the property value to increase like the good old days when it was probably a cash cow for the borough.

[Geeo]

Century III was similar to Randall Park Mall in Cleveland, I believe. Both were the biggest malls in their regions, and I think both were developed by DeBartolo. Randall Park started going downhill before Century III, and I think it may be torn down by now. Not a lot you can do with them for other uses that wouldn't require a ton of money. Plus new shopping centers opened nearby that siphoned off a lot of business. It's kind of like a viscious cycle - Eastland Mall killed downtown McKeesport, Century III killed Eastland, and the Waterfront killed Century III. What's coming down the pike to kill the Waterfront in the future??

[Clint.]

Originally Posted by Geeo

What's coming down the pike to kill the Waterfront in the future??

Hopefully nothing (as long as no one comes along, buys up cheap land, and proceeds to poach established business by merely offered something "new").

It would be a benchmark moment for the Mon Valley (and for the region in general) if this company is able to sell Century III and the buyer is able to make profitable use of all or a substantial portion of it. I think it would be unprecedented for a severely declining Pittsburgh area mall to be successfully repurposed or significantly revitalized.

[Geeo]

The developers have already poached from the Robinson area - the Barnes & Noble moved across the parkway from the Pointe at Robinson to Settlers Ridge. Dont know if any others have done the same. Sure seems kind of silly. There seems to be no coordination or planning - they just build and take from one another.

[captainmidnight]

It is amazing how many parking spaces there is. Does anyone know if most of those were filled at one point. A few weeks ago I drove from Dicks around the backside of the mall to Sears. The parking garage there is so massive and with being deserted it feels like a giant cave.

It is funny they attribute PAT service cutbacks as a reason for decline. The old owners didn't like the stop being right in front of the stores, so they wanted to stop moved to the end of the parking lot. Yes, there were service cutbacks but I'm sure a longer walk to get from the bus to inside the mall didn't help.

[gg]

Internet is going to kill malls over time. That will be a lot of employees out of work, but it will happen. If you go on the Walmart site, you will see they offer a lot of "specials" on line. I think they are almost forcing the public to take advantage of online shopping with the price differences I saw. That being said, I think they want to make sure they capitalize on the future. They do sell a lot of groceries though and I don't think that industry will be on line much. People like to pick produce and such. Not sure what will happen to Century III? It was a huge deal in its heyday, but it was a pretty short run for something that huge.

[trackstar13]

Yes those spots were all filled at one time. I remember Christmas shopping in the early 90's at Century III and it literally took me over 30 minutes to find a parking spot. Of course this was black friday and I guess it was to be expected, but the decline has been slowly happening over time. I wonder if Monroeville Mall will be the next to go?

[LuvPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by bmantz65

It is amazing how many parking spaces there is. Does anyone know if most of those were filled at one point. A few weeks ago I drove from Dicks around the backside of the mall to Sears. The parking garage there is so massive and with being deserted it feels like a giant cave.

It is funny they attribute PAT service cutbacks as a reason for decline. The old owners didn't like the stop being right in front of the stores, so they wanted to stop moved to the end of the parking lot. Yes, there were service cutbacks but I'm sure a longer walk to get from the bus to inside the mall didn't help.

There are likely people on here who would remember better than me, but I can remember the mall being packed in the 80's - and with no real sense of decline that I can recall through the early to mid 90's. I can't remember the specifics on whether or not the parking decks were full, but I would imagine so. I always had a sense back then that it was the main mall for Pittsburgh. Perhaps I was wrong, but it seemed like a big deal to go shopping there.