Parkway Center Mall to close (Pittsburgh: 2013, hotel, bankruptcy)

[neurodistortion]

Originally Posted by youngabe

With Giant Eagle still there, how much redeveloping can they do? At the end of the article, the one quote says:

“I would think that most of it would have to be torn down and rebuilt in some fashion,” said Weisbrod.

They said that K-Mart continuing to renew it's lease prevented redevelopment since it needs to be torn down...ok, so what about Giant Eagle! I'm honestly surprised Giant Eagle is okay with being there especially since they're literally the lone wolf now. They're virtually hidden. If you don't know Giant Eagle is there...well, you don't know Giant Eagle is there. That store has never seemed busy to me. Not to mention, getting back to GE is hilarious with the condition of the parking lot.

I really hope they do something with that entire development. As everyone has said, it's in too good of location to just sit there and rot altogether.

I'd imagine that the lease has an early termination clause in case of this very scenario which is about to play out. If anything, I don't know why they didn't simply settle for a month-to-month lease instead of a five-year term.

[neurodistortion]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I didn't move here until 2000, after the PCM heyday, so for me Parkway Center was never in a competition with Robinson. It was merely the place closest to where I live where there was a grocery store, a Hallmark, a Radio Shack, Phar-Mor, K-Mart, etc. I never thought of it as a full-service suburban mall experience, merely a convenient strip mall.

I concur, it was more of a neighborhood-oriented shopping mall, the selection was more bread and butter instead of high end fashion which is part of the reason why it went downhill.

[JoeP]

I mentioned this in the related thread recently. This is an excellent location for a great development. Removing the mall and providing a more functional mixed use development would better use the land.

Now if only they would do the same to Allegheny Center...

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I didn't move here until 2000, after the PCM heyday, so for me Parkway Center was never in a competition with Robinson. It was merely the place closest to where I live where there was a grocery store, a Hallmark, a Radio Shack, Phar-Mor, K-Mart, etc. I never thought of it as a full-service suburban mall experience, merely a convenient strip mall.

What I should have said was once Robinson and south Fayette really developed people preferred to go there instead of the limited selection there was at Parkway Center.

[ex-burgher]

Interesting info from deadmalls.com
Dead Malls dot Com: Feature: Parkway Center Mall: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

[AnneWest]

Originally Posted by groar

isn't the whole thing basically falling into the earth anyway? how can they rebuild on that?

That entire hillside needs to be made more stable before they can build anything else there. The vibrating and tremors inside the mall were very unsettling. I couldn't imagine living in an apartment there, and being able to sleep at night.

[Pghuser]

An "official" end of an era. PCM was once a great vibrant mall full of people. I spent many years in that mall when I was younger. As soon as the Robinson Twp area became such a hub this place was doomed. I do hope that some sort of retail development would come into the area.

Remember a few years ago when the residents on the city side of the mall protested development? I would hope that this new development, whatever it is, is not inside the city limits so these people can't ***** and moan. 5 people single handily held up development.

This mall has deserved so much better than what it's been in recent years. Like someone mentioned earlier, I don't know how anything can be built on the mall site without the area being stabilized. It's in really bad shape.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by AnneWest

That entire hillside needs to be made more stable before they can build anything else there. The vibrating and tremors inside the mall were very unsettling. I couldn't imagine living in an apartment there, and being able to sleep at night.

Oh dear--there's an issue with tremors? Uh oh, that's a bad problem indeed. OK, scratch the apartment idea.

[mister brewski]

My best memories of Parkway Center were school field trips. I went to West Allegheny and whenever i was in grade school and middle school all of our field trips to the city had the same conclusion. On the way back the buses would drop us off at PCM and everyone would go to the food court, get whatever food they choose and then inhale it as fast as possible so we could hit the arcade, before they carted us back to WA. I graduated in 1999, so my elementary/middle school years were in the late 80's- early 90's before the mall fall apart. Sometimes hitting the arcade with all your friends was better then the field trip itself.

[neurodistortion]

Does anyone know how many stores the mall had at its prime and what the name of the stores were? Too bad there aren't any pictures of the particular era that I know of online or a directory map from that time.