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Brian O'Neill: Pittsburgh Mills now a millstone

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Brian O'Neill: Pittsburgh Mills now a millstone

Does anybody want to buy a mall?

I ambled through the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills on Thursday afternoon, the day after the bank that foreclosed on it two years ago paid $100 to buy it. That’s the kind of legalistic move we in the hoi polloi don’t entirely understand but it evidently gives Wells Fargo clearance to either renovate the sprawling complex or sell it on better terms.

The bank claims it’s owed $142.9 million on the enclosed shopping center. It was born only in 2005 so that wouldn’t even make it old enough to get in all the movies on its 18 screens, yet it’s on life support. The money guys say it’s worth only $11 million.

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Oh how the mightily subsidized have fallen.

More than 16 miles northeast of the Point, Pittsburgh Mills is the largest and most rural project to which Allegheny County ever gave a tax increment financing deal. It’s always been too far from the county’s largest population centers to warrant its sprawling 2.1 million square feet.

The NASCAR SpeedPark that was supposed to lure race fans from neighboring counties never arrived, and the years since have seen too many of the nation’s shoppers opt for online buys rather than bricks-and-mortar stores. That trend helped kill this mall’s Sears Grand store two years ago.

A Thursday afternoon is not the best time to judge a mall’s popularity but the place has a vibe not unlike Pittsburgh International Airport: A long stroll can take you past a whole lot of Not Here Anymore. About half the storefronts are shuttered, with signs offering adages such as “‘I have not failed, I have found 10,000 ways that do not work.’ -- Benjamin Franklin”

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The place wasn’t quite as dead as Mr. Franklin but there weren’t many diners in the food court off the movie theater at lunchtime. Cynthia Morschauser of Apollo, Armstrong County, was having pizza with her granddaughters, Adeline, 4, and Kenzie, 1.

“I just wanted to go to the play area, but it’s closed,’’ Ms. Morschauser said. She prefers Monroeville Mall for its layout and shopping options, but at least the pizza was good.

Cassandra Healy of Tarentum and her mother, Nancy Healy of Natrona Heights, were talking over the fate of the mall when I walked up. The daughter, who brought her 8-month-old daughter Evalyn Burkett, works at Panera, which has a sidewalk as well as a mall entrance, and that stays busy. Her mom had worked at the J.C. Penney that moved to the mall from Lower Burrell. Both women lamented that the complex never got the racetrack or any other family attraction that might have pulled in people.

The 3,000 to 4,000 permanent full- and part-time jobs that were touted before this mall opened were always a mirage. It will be quite the trick to shrink this handsome, half-filled complex now.

The county approved the tax break here when James Roddey was county executive, and current Executive Rich Fitzgerald voted for it as a councilman in 2002. The way a TIF works is that a government dedicates the lion’s share of the increased taxes on developed land to pay off the bonds that finance the corresponding public improvements — in this case $58 million worth, most of that going into roadways.

It never made sense for this county to subsidize big retail plays, which only move the same shoppers’ money around, but it seems to have wised up. Bob Hurley, director of economic development, says there will be no more TIFs for retail unless the stores are merely a minor part of residential and office development.

The big question now is what happens when Pittsburgh Mills’ new owner inevitably appeals the current assessment of $138 million. The taxable value seems likely to shrink to a fraction of that. The county won’t take a big hit if taxes go back to what was reaped when this area was grassland, but Frazer and the Deer Lakes School District have plenty riding on this.

As for the bonds that won’t be paid off until 2023, “the investors who bought the bonds are the ones who will lose if this thing goes belly up,’’ Mr. Hurley said.

It could be worse. Another $22 million TIF that the county approved in 2005 for Deer Creek Crossing a few miles southwest died when Target pulled out. Sometimes the best government buys are the ones not made.

Brian O’Neill: boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947 or on Twitter@brotheroneill 

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First Published: January 22, 2017, 5:00 a.m.

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