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Is everything smoothed over for The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills? It's hard to say.
After years of rough riding at the Frazer mall property, the rutted, potholed roads have been paved. The criminal charge that Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. filed in connection with the public nuisance has been dropped. The mall remains all but empty, but driving to the surrounding freestanding properties is easier.
Perhaps that is what made the 200-acre property attractive to someone.
Adelaide Godwin, vice president of UpSpring Public Relations, represents Namdar Realty Group. Namdar purchased the Mills in 2018 for $11 million. Godwin confirmed last Friday to TribLive that the mall is under contract to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price.
There is a lot of daylight between "under contract" and "sold," so it's too early to crow about a sale.
But "under contract" is progress from the June 2025 reports from local real estate agents that the property quietly was being shopped for buyers. It's much better than Namdar's own neglectful management that has seen so many businesses close and local residents avoid the property, if possible, to protect their cars.
This latest development seems unlike Namdar's purchase of the property, which wasn't thriving but still was functioning eight years ago. Today, all of the anchor stores are gone. The last, Macy's, shuttered in April, three months after selling its 12-acre chunk of the property to Namdar.
The paving that's been done and the criminal charge that didn't go to trial don't change the scope of Namdar's issues at the Mills. There are still hundreds of citations for a laundry list of code violations. The company is appealing $17 million in fines.
That means that even if Namdar recouped every penny it paid for the mall, it could still be millions of dollars in the red.
Even if the sale goes through, what would it mean for the region?
Another shopping center? Possibly, but given the track record, that seems like a waste of effort. Malls, on their own, are not exactly having their high point at the moment. Although some are doing fine, many are struggling. See the demise of Century III and the sale of Monroeville Mall to Walmart. The ones that are rallying often have other reasons, like Westmoreland Mall since the casino's opening there.
Zappala alluded to this last week when suggesting the Mills property might be attractive to sports development. The statement came as he spoke about the paving potentially helping with a sale.
"I'm hopeful that new owners come in with new ideas," he said.
Does that mean the DA knows more about the sale?
There are other directions a new owner could go: housing, entertainment, recreation. It seems like the region's medical giants always are looking for property, as are the universities. There are plenty of ways to go that aren't retail.
After years of neglect and decline, a sale would be welcome. But what matters more is what comes after it. Pittsburgh Mills doesn't just need a new owner. It needs someone with a new vision for what the property can become.
Editor's note: Namdar is the owner of the Logan Valley Mall in Altoona.