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Monroeville Mall

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Coordinates: 40°25′47.12″N 79°47′42.60″W / 40.4297556°N 79.7951667°W / 40.4297556; -79.7951667
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Monroeville Mall
Map
LocationWilliam Penn Hwy. (Business U.S. 22)
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
Opening date1969
DeveloperOxford Development Company
ManagementCBL & Associates Properties, Inc.
OwnerCBL & Associates Properties, Inc.
No. of stores and services180+
No. of anchor tenants2
Total retail floor area1,180,167 square feet (109,641.1 m2)
No. of floors2 (Macy's and former Boscov's are 3 levels)
Parking6,800 spaces
Websitehttp://www.monroevillemall.com

Monroeville Mall is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. It is located near the junction of Interstate 376 and I-76. It sits on 170 acres (0.7 km2) and has 1,180,167 square feet (109,641 m2) of leaseable space on two levels.

Developed by Oxford Development Company, the property was acquired in 2004 for $232 million by CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., a REIT based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Recently, the mall finished a remodeling project to compete with several newer, more luxurious malls in the Pittsburgh area. It is one of two CBL malls owned in the Pittsburgh area, the other being Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg. Both malls are marketed together through various media outlets.

The mall is famous for its appearance in several motion pictures, most notably the George A. Romero horror film Dawn of the Dead (1979).

History

Before the 1950s postwar migration movement, Monroeville was predominantly a rural farming area. The opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the early 1950s followed by completion of Interstate 376 (Parkway East) in the early 1960s would expedite the growth of Monroeville and the eastern suburbs. In November 1954, the Miracle Mile Shopping Center opened for business with numerous shops and eateries. As the novelty of shopping malls were becoming increasingly popular in the 1960s, residents of Monroeville and the eastern suburbs shopped at the defunct Eastland Mall in nearby North Versailles, or at Greengate Mall (now Greengate Centre) in Greensburg, Westmoreland County.

Proposal

In the mid-1960s, Don-Mark Realty (later Oxford Development Company) proposed building the largest shopping mall in the United States in the form of Monroeville Mall. For the development, Don-Mark acquired a 280-acre (1.1 km2) tract known as Harper's Mine. Despite local residents questioning whether the land was indeed a prime location for development, Don-Mark was confident that the site was perfect for the proposed mall. By 1966, grading equipment would begin leveling part of the massive site in preparation for the mall's construction. In fact, more than 5,000,000 cubic yards (3,800,000 m3) of dirt would be moved to level the 110-acre (0.45 km2) portion of the 280-acre (1.1 km2) site, with excavation costs totaling $2.5 million at the time. Construction on the $30 million dollar mall would begin in 1967 and last for two years. Outside, the massive parking lots were paved and spaced to accommodate 6,500 vehicles. [1]

Opening

In May 1969, the 1.13 million square foot Monroeville Mall opened its doors with Gimbels and Joseph Horne Co. at opposite ends and J.C. Penney in the middle. The five and dime G.C. Murphy store provided a lower-price alternative for shoppers on the lower level. The mall contained 125 stores on two levels and featured the Ice Palace, which was the first world-class ice skating rink in an enclosed mall on the East Coast. The mall's opening would eventually lead to the decline and closure of the East Hills Shopping Center in nearby Penn Hills. It would also affect business at the Miracle Mile Shopping Center, which was greatly impacted following the relocation of its J.C. Penney store to the Monroeville Mall, although business would gradually level out over time. [2]

Mall amenities

The mall was decorated with fountains and plant life that flourished under enormous skylights. The Gimbels court of the mall featured a large yellow clock tower that housed 12 animated puppets, each one representing an ethnic group in the Pittsburgh area. One puppet performed every hour, and all performed together at 1pm and 6pm. The court at the Horne's end of the mall had a large, circular fountain, surrounded by a seating area. The store selection in the mall ranged from high fashion to hardware. There was a bank, several places to eat, pharmacies, pubs and even a ministry center, as developers had intended on making the mall into an indoor "town center" for the Monroeville community. [3]

Renovations and expansions

With Monroeville Mall fully operational, the areas surrounding the mall began to develop as well. Outparcels such as a movie theater, a Marriott hotel and a number of retailers, auto service centers and restaurants were subsequentially built during the 1970s. The mall annex would also be developed directly behind the mall and feature an A&P supermarket, among other businesses. The Greater Pittsburgh Merchandise Mart, the predecessor to the much larger Pittsburgh ExpoMart of Monroeville, was developed as a facility for the display of goods by representatives of various manufacturers. It would be replaced by the current facility in 1981 and redeveloped for a Borders bookstore. In February 1984, much to the dismay of local residents, the Ice Palace was replaced by a food court. In later years, most of the mall's decorative ponds and bridges would be replaced by numerous kiosks. In the early 1990s, the distinctive clock tower was dismantled in lieu of a stage, which has since been replaced with a bungee jumping attraction, while the fountain at the opposite end was removed in the early 2000s for a children's play area, themed to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The largest renovation and expansion project ever at Monroeville Mall was completed in 2003-2004. The main entrance area fronting the mall was redeveloped into an 80,000 square foot lifestyle center called The District. Inside the mall, cosmetic upgrades to the lighting fixtures, flooring, railings and seating were done. Escalators were also installed in the court areas at both ends of the center. [4]

Historical facts

  • The Monroeville Mall property was once proposed to be the site for the now defunct Three Rivers Stadium in the early stages of development.
  • The mall was designed to be 20% larger than South Hills Village, another development built by the Oxford Development Company in 1965.
  • In early 2004, Monroeville Mall was purchased for $231.2 million dollars by Tennessee-based CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.

The Monroeville Mall has been featured prominently in numerous films, as well as in various computer/video games.

Dawn of the Dead

Monroeville Mall is most famous as the filming location for the movie, Dawn of the Dead, the 1978 cult horror classic, directed by George A. Romero. In 1977, George A. Romero began filming Dawn of the Dead on location at the Monroeville Mall. All filming inside the mall took place at night after the mall had closed, with filming often continuing until dawn. Filming in the mall began in October 1977, but had to be suspended when the mall's Christmas decorations were hung shortly after Thanksgiving. Filming resumed in January after the decorations were removed. It was during that break that much of the mall's exterior shots were filmed, as well as filming at other locations. The mall was used as a fortress to protect four human survivors from a world taken over by the walking dead. Romero used the location to its fullest, beautifully displaying the mall and its vastness, almost giving the mall a cavernous feel. The movie went on to become a huge hit worldwide, leaving legions of dedicated fans in its wake. Fans travel far and wide, sometimes from other countries, just to have a chance to visit the location. [6]

Other films

  • The ice skating rink at Monroeville Mall appears in the 1983 film Flashdance as the rink on which Jeanne auditions.

Miscellaneous

  • The fictional mall of Willamette named "Willamette Parkview Mall" of Dead Rising was also inspired by Monroeville Mall as the same setting as Dawn of the Dead, although the creators had noted that the game was not developed, approved or licensed by the owners or creators of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead.
  • A second city of Monroeville was started in the online browser based MMORG Urban Dead on the 25th of February 2008 including Monroeville Mall, as a promotion for the release of the film Diary of the Dead.
  • Monroeville Mall is the setting for the zombie survival board game Mall of Horror.
  • The fictional Pittsburgh suburb of Libertyville, Pennsylvania in the Stephen King novel Christine was inspired by Monroeville, Pennsylvania and the Monroeville Mall.

Anchor stores

In 1969, the Monroeville Mall opened with The Joseph Horne Company, Gimbels, and JC Penney as the original anchors.

In 1970, the entire Gimbels chain was purchased by the tobacco conglomerate BATUS. In 1986, after years of declining sales, BATUS announced that Gimbels was on the block. Unable to find a buyer for the entire chain, BATUS closed down the entire Gimbels Pittsburgh division, selling or closing all locations. Some of the more attractive mall locations, such as Monroeville Mall, were taken over by the St. Louis based May Department Stores Company for its Pittsburgh based Kaufmann's division. This effectively caused the shuttering of the entire Gimbels Pittsburgh division. The Monroeville Mall location was closed and completely renovated, including adding a third floor, before reopening as Kaufmann's. In 2006, when The May Department Stores Company was purchased by Cincinnati based Federated Department Stores, this store was acquired by Boscov's as Macy's was already located in the former Horne's spot at the opposite end of the mall. In October 2008, Boscov's closed their Monroeville store as part of a restructuring plan within the company.

The Joseph Horne Company (owned by the New York City based Associated Dry Goods Corporation) operated in Monroeville Mall until 1995. In October 1986, The May Department Stores Company merged with Associated Dry Goods Corporation. May promptly sold The Joseph Horne Company to a group of local investors. In 1995, Federated Department Stores acquired Horne's and renamed all former locations under its own Lazarus regional nameplate. In 2005, Federated eventually merged all its divisions (including the former Joseph Horne/Lazarus locations) into Macy's as part of a nationwide rebranding program.

Anchor store square footage

  • JC Penney - 210,467 sq ft (opened 1969, whose elevator appeared in Dawn of the Dead)
  • Macy's - 240,526 sq ft. (opened 2005 in former Horne's and Lazarus)
  • Unoccupied anchor space - (opened 2006, closed October 2008 - formerly Gimbels, Kaufmann's and Boscov's)

References

  1. ^ http://www.yourmonroeville.com/timesexpress/article/harpers-mine-birthplace-monroeville-mall/
  2. ^ http://www.yourmonroeville.com/timesexpress/article/harpers-mine-birthplace-monroeville-mall/
  3. ^ http://www.yourmonroeville.com/timesexpress/article/harpers-mine-birthplace-monroeville-mall/
  4. ^ http://www.yourmonroeville.com/timesexpress/article/harpers-mine-birthplace-monroeville-mall/
  5. ^ http://www.yourmonroeville.com/timesexpress/article/harpers-mine-birthplace-monroeville-mall/
  6. ^ http://www.deadohio.com/MonroevilleMall.htm
  7. ^ Vancheri, Barbara (2008-09-09). "Monroeville-filmed 'Zack and Miri' gets warm reception in Toronto". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Toronto. Retrieved 2008-10-16.

40°25′47.12″N 79°47′42.60″W / 40.4297556°N 79.7951667°W / 40.4297556; -79.7951667

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