ALLEGHENY CENTER MALL: PITTSBURGH, PA
Justin Streiner's Commentary
Posted January 13, 2010 (user submitted September 6, 2008)
Allegheny Center Mall is located in Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhood, less than 1/2 a mile from PNC Park (home of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team) and roughly one mile from downtown Pittsburgh.
The beginnings of the mall were somewhat controversial. The land where the mall and accompanying office buildings and high-rise apartment buildings is located was the town square and market center of Allegheny City, before Allegheny City was annexed by the City of Pittsburgh in 1907. The north side of Pittsburgh underwent a demographic shift and general decline in the 1950s and the Allegheny Center site was chosen for one of Pittsburgh's 'Renaissance' urban renewal efforts. The city made extensive use of its powers of eminent domain to force old businesses out of the square. Much of the square was demolished, except for the Old Post Office and the Buhl Planetarium. The 75-store four-level mall (two retail floors, two parking levels, and a drive-through loading dock) opened in 1966, with Sears as its anchor tenant, along with Woolworth's and local retail chain G.C. Murphy & Co leasing spaces, along with many smaller chains.
The mall enjoyed some degree of success through the 1970s and into the 1980s, however the urban renewal promised by the Renaissance program largely failed to materialize and much of Pittsburgh's North Side continued to be plagued by crime and urban decay. The mall's troubles were worsened by the completion of Interstate 279 in 1987, which took a lot of vehicular traffic off of North Side streets, along with population shift toward the suburbs and the opening of Ross Park Mall a few miles up I-279, in 1987. Anchor tenant Sears held on into the early 1990s, when it closed, opting to focus their efforts on their larger and more profitable Ross Park location. No retail store moved into the location and the anchor space was converted into office space that was leased by Integra Bank (now National City). Other large spaces went vacant with the bankruptcy of Wooloworth's and Murphy Mart.
In the mid 1990s, the mall continued to struggle, with the number of open storefronts dwindling as the reduction in customer foot traffic made the sites unprofitable to lease. The last restaurant on the mall property, a Wendy's that wasn't inside of the main mall space, closed in 2004.
As retail stores left, large blocks of space were converted into office space, and the mall's location just outside of downtown Pittsburgh and large leasable spaces made it a prime location for telecommunications carriers, and so the mall property is now considered a 'carrier hotel', with AT&T, Expedient, Switch and Data, Paetec (formerly US LEC), all leasing large spaces in the main mall building. Some tenants were lost in the dot-com crash, but for the most part, new tenants have taken over those spaces.
So, while Allegheny Center Mall is dead in the sense that there are no more retail stores, it is not dead, as in run-down and unused.
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Nancy Geyer’s Commentary:
User submitted Oct 2012I spent lots of time shopping at this mall in the 70s and 80s, and I really wish that I (or you!) had photos of it in its heyday.
I have seen a few photos on FB on a page I belong to, but they are not mine to send you.
I do have photos that I took last summer or the summer before of this mall and what it looks like now, mostly intact but now office space.
I could email them if you want them.
Thanks for taking my comment.
Nancy Geyer
Pittsburgh, PA
Rob Doerr’s Commentary:
User submitted Jun 2011I work for Plantscape, a professional plant care company located in Pittsburgh. We currently have accounts with PNC Bank (formerly National City), and the Allegheny Center to maintain almost 550 plants and trees inside the main mall building, as well as several outlying buildings in the complex.
The main building of the ACM complex, which housed the retail stores, is still in fairly good condition. This is in large part due to the fact that it is used daily by PNC employees who work in the building. The two-level main hall could actually be really nice if it were to be re-used as retail space, but not necessarily for today's typical "mall stores". The main anchor spaces on either end are in use by financial services companies, mainly PNC Bank, for its home mortgage and lender services programs.
The main hall is non-air conditioned, and the roof leaks in several spaces when it storms - as it did today. The roof is comprised of a wby metal material, with clear glass windows (picture an old airport terminal from the 1960's...it's pretty much dead-on.) The space is very retro, with some cool old black lamp posts along the upper level.
The old center courtyard, to the north of the main hall, was obviously once a grand gathering place - complete with a large fountain and many park-like settings with benches and plants/trees. Sadly, the fountain is now defunct and crumbling along with the benches and walkways. Many of the trees are dead or dying, and the weeds have taken over in many places. It doesn't appear to be maintained on any level. Surprisingly, the area is surrounded by occupied high-rise apartment buildings that look down into this space. Again, if restored, this could be an awesome place to hang out for lunch or enjoy a sunny summer afternoon.
Close-by are historic sites, such as the old Allegheny Central High School building (1936), which seems to be in pretty good condition. Also, Saint Peter's Church, next door to the high school, is evidence that this area was once the center of a city/town. Even the streets are laid-out in a pattern resembling a circular drive that would encompass a shopping mall - which were most certainly added in the 1960's when the mall was built.
As mentioned, the area is not abandoned or in disrepair (with the exception of a few area homes and businesses, typical in Pittsburgh). It's a beautiful neighborhood in the midst of making a slow but steady comeback from serious decline in the 1980's when the areas steel mill industries fell apart, ricocheting through the local economy. The beautiful city park that borders North Avenue is adjacent to the mall, which is now simply reffered to as Allegheny Center. The National Aviary (which is supposedly haunted!), and the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh are also adjacent. The historic Post Office still stands as well, with it's beautiful petinaed domed roof.
Ed VAnce’s Commentary:
User submitted May 2007I would like to suggest adding Allegheny Center Mall to your list of dead malls. It is now used as offices for National City Bank and Equitable Gas.
It was located on Pittsurgh's North Side and opened in the early 1960's. It had two floors but the two level Sears anchor was the only store on the second floor originally. All the original stores were on the first floor only.
When Sears left to nearby Ross Park Mall in the mid 1980's that was the beginning of the end for this mall. The last store open was Woolworths.
The mall also had Zayres (later Ames), and even an A&P supermarket as part of it at one time as well as a series of record shops, book stores, and clothing shops.
The mall was in a bad area, and most people didn't feel safe shoppping there.