September 25, 2024 - Century III Mall Demolition

[@GabetheSlacker]

I could probably imagine Century 3 Mall being destroyed and turned into Century 3 Center.

[@mikemancini313]

0:03 Glad to know Pennsylvania has adopted crappy New York and New Jersey Roads. One of those roads was completely abandoned over there that lead to the upper deck of the parking garage. Horrific looking. Some states never learn. Legend has it, if you’re on a high speed pursuit, the potholes will take you out before the cops can.

[@MrTsolar]

The abandoned entrance was blocked off by Simon Property back around 2010 when the Macy's Furniture Gallery closed. By chance, I happened to film the clearance bars and lights 2 weeks before they were ripped down. I believe that was in the June 7 update. As for the mall road at the beginning of this video, the municipality and Moonbeam kept saying that the road was the other party's property. So, while the rest of the roads on top of and around the slag dump have been resurfaced, the only party to do any work at all on this road was Neiswonger Construction. While Pittsburgh roads leave a lot to be desired, this one is infamously bad because nobody can agree whose responsibility it is to maintain it. If you watched the end, some regulars have figured out the path to take that avoids the worst holes, and at the right speed, they basically float over the rest.

[@mikemancini313]

@@MrTsolar That’s not Moonbeam’s responsibility. As bad as a mall owner as they are, (They’re struggling to maintain West Oaks Mall in Florida.) Century III Mall road stretches well beyond the perimeter of the property. Since the municipality already maintains the first half of the road, they might as well just repave the second half if Moonbeam is going to be a bad owner. I’ve always hated how Moonbeam takes on projects they obviously shouldn’t have but I think the municipality should just repave it.

[@MrTsolar]

@@mikemancini313 I agree. The parcel perimeter on the maps stops in the grass between the road and the parking lot, but a few of the mall's parking lot lights share power with the streetlights. Wasn't this road originally built by DeBartolo with the mall? As for Moonbeam, as much as I dislike them, they finished what Simon started. Can't imagine how things would've been different had CBL or even Kohan owned Century III after DeBartolo. Washington Crown Center, owned by Kohan, has been getting kicked since 2020 (the first hit their own fault) but has somehow survived to date. Of course, they're set to lose a handful of stores soon, so we'll have to see how that plays out.

[@mikemancini313]

@@MrTsolar Yes. You’re right. This is a DeBartolo mall. DeBartolo built the largest mall in the world in 1976 in North Randall Ohio. Later became one of the largest abandoned malls in the world after it closed in 2009. DeBartolo also built the extremely large Florida Mall in Orlando that does very well to this day. (Ironically, another Simon owned mall.) Century III was the third largest mall in American when built. Sad that it failed but the Pittsburgh area has so many malls and shopping centers around today. Competition really killed it and moonbeam neglecting fire codes lol.

[@mikemancini313]

@@MrTsolar Washington Crown Center might get killed from competition from South Hills Village Mall once Von Maur opens next month. That mall has a lot of traffic thanks to the railway line close to it. That and all those other Pittsburgh Malls like the Mall at Robinson.

[@GabetheSlacker]

Do you think that they will carefully remove the street Century 3 signs, or do you think they will remove them by destroying them?

[@titusllewelyn]

Unbelievable.

[@Buck6511]

Be careful out there some guy tryed to attack me twice now out there 😅

[@spaceflight1019]

That "road" is a tire-eating, suspension busting minefield!

[@MrTsolar]

It’s actually in better shape now than it was a year ago. The demo crew filled in a lot of the craters from the Sears entrance to 51.

[@spaceflight1019]

@@MrTsolar I still take the extra time to go around.

[@MrTsolar]

Lewis Run isn’t far from the mall and does the same job. Might even be faster than the mall if you’re coming north on 51. Otherwise, Lebanon Church Road is better since the ramp to 51 South is a nightmare at times.

[@spaceflight1019]

@@MrTsolar If you're coming from the intersection of 885 south and LCR it's tempting to use the mall road to avoid Lewis Run, especially since it's a double detour for the new turnpike construction. They don't want detour traffic on Coal Valley to keep the road to the hospital clear but Route 51 traffic backs up past the JMA center. It's a tough choice.