Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos is giving the owners of Century III Mall in West Mifflin until next month to show good-faith progress in updating the property or she will move forward with a proceeding that could allow the District Attorney’s Office to take possession and have it demolished with public funds.
Demolition would cost an estimated $12 to $13 million and be reimbursed when the property is sold.
West Mifflin Borough Manager Brian Kamauf said he is excited about the site's future and to see the safety of residents being prioritized.
“We welcome this demolition… it has been a safety concern for years, and we want the best for our residents,” Kamauf said. “The mall could never be reopened because of its condition, so we’re excited to see what future developments come to the site.”
Once the third-largest mall in the world and a retail wonder when it opened in 1979, the Century III Mall was sold during a sheriff’s auction in 2013 for $10,500,000 to a company named Century III Mall Pa. LLC. The company had plans to revitalize it, but in 2019, the borough determined the building to be unsafe and uninhabitable.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala filed criminal charges and a restraining order against the Las Vegas company in late January.
The 1.3 million-square-foot mall had 200 stores and restaurants at its peak. Demolition has been estimated to cost more than $10 million, but Zappala has said the sale of the 90-acre plot would reimburse that cost, estimating it could fetch anywhere from $32 to $40 million if made ready for building.
The abandoned mall has had several trespassing incidents.
In October 2023, a social media influencer from Oklahoma allegedly entered the abandoned and condemned mall. Before that, a YouTuber and two other men from Ohio were charged with trespassing, along with a man from Clairton.
In June 2023, a teenager fell through the roof of the mall while filming a TikTok and was hospitalized. Police responded to an arson in April 2023, and arrested three people for vandalism in May 2023.
This Tuesday, according to police reports, seven people were arrested for trespassing.
