Westmoreland Mall

Westmoreland Mall

Westmoreland Mall as seen from across U.S. Route 30
Location	5256 U.S. Route 30 Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Opening date	28 February 1977
Developer	Adam Eidemiller, Inc./The Goodman Company
Management	CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.
Owner	CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.
No. of stores and services	200+
No. of anchor tenants	6
Total retail floor area	1,283,597 square feet (119,250.1 m2)
Parking	6,436 spaces (covered and uncovered)
No. of floors	2
Website	Westmoreland Mall

Westmoreland Mall, owned and operated by CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in the municipality of Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. It was completed in 1977, extensively renovated and expanded in 1993-1994, and includes The Bon-Ton, J. C. Penney, Macy's, Macy's Home, Old Navy and Sears as anchor tenants and over 200 retailers such as American Eagle Outfitters, The Buckle, Charlotte Russe, Crazy 8, Express/Express Men, Hollister Co., The Limited, LOFT, New York & Company, Pandora, Sephora, Talbots/Talbots Petites, Wet Seal and Zumiez. It contains 1,283,597 square feet (119,250.1 m²) of retail space on 103 acres (0.4 km²), making it the third largest shopping complex in Western Pennsylvania in terms of square footage.^[1] In terms of the number of stores, however, it is the largest. Surrounding the mall are over 25 retailers and dining establishments, including the Westmoreland Crossing strip shopping center, which opened in 1978 and features Carmike Cinemas, Dick's Sporting Goods, Levin Furniture, Michaels Arts and Crafts, Planet Fitness and T.J. Maxx. A variety of restaurants and outparcels such as Dollar Bank, Ground Round, LongHorn Steakhouse and Pepperwood Grille completes the mall complex.

It is located on the eastern side of the Pittsburgh metroplex on the heavily traveled U.S. Route 30 corridor. Adjacent to Westmoreland Mall, many big box retailers and restaurants can be found along the U.S. Route 30 and Donohoe Road retail area, which is the biggest concentration of retailers and other commercial businesses between Monroeville and Altoona.

History

Prior to the development of Westmoreland Mall, the immediate area surrounding the site, known as Miller's Woods, was nothing more than a mixture of open fields and wooded land. A handful of small businesses such as the former Winky's Restaurant (now Casual Male XL) were located on U.S. Route 30. At the time, residents shopped in Greensburg's business district, or at Greengate Mall (now Greengate Centre), west of the city. As the demand for more retail grew in the area, Kaufmann's and Sears approached the Rouse Company, owner of Greengate Mall, about the possibility of opening a new location at the facility. For some reason, Rouse didn't want to invest in the development to bring the stores in. Therefore, that opened the door to a new mall in the area.

Proposal

In the mid-1970s, Adam Eidemiller, Inc., the development company that owned the land at the time, initially proposed building a motel on the open acreage, but eventually decided that it was not the best use of the property. The proliferation of shopping malls during the 1970s led Eidemiller to consider developing a regional mall on the site. It contacted St. Louis-based May Department Stores Company, parent of Pittsburgh-based retailer Kaufmann's about building a mall with the department store as an anchor but was rebuffed. Later, a joint venture between Eidemiller and the Goodman Company was formed, which already had experience with developing extensive projects, including Granite Run Mall near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Construction would begin in 1975, and Kaufmann's became the first store to open at the complex in late 1976.^[2]

Opening

On February 28, 1977, the 850,000-square-foot (79,000 m²) Westmoreland Mall officially opened its doors with Kaufmann's and Sears as the anchor stores and 89 other retailers. Special events at the new mall included a visit by Mr. McFeely of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The mall's South Annex (now Westmoreland Crossing), originally anchored by Shop 'n Save, opened in 1978. As the years passed, the mall continued to grow, with the addition of Troutman's Department Store (later replaced by Pomeroy's and The Bon-Ton) and 80,000 square feet (7,000 m²) of additional retail space in 1979. By the mid-1980s, the convenience center at the South Annex was constructed, with 40,000 square feet (4,000 m²) of space for 12 to 15 new stores and restaurants. At this time, the mall was owned and operated by The Kravco Company, now Simon Property Group.^[3] The rapid growth of Westmoreland Mall brought increasing pressure to smaller cross-town rival Greengate Mall, which was anchored by Horne's, J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward. Greengate took proactive measures to remain competitive with Westmoreland Mall as it completed a makeover in 1981 and attempted to remerchandise and lease the center to new merchants well into the late 1980s.

Renovation and expansion

By the early 1990s, significant retailer demand for additional space as well as increasing competition from Pittsburgh-area malls prompted the mall's owners to consider redeveloping the property. In response, it went through a $33 million renovation and expansion project, which began in 1993 and ended with the grand opening of J.C. Penney, which relocated from Greengate Mall, in 1994. The expansion also brought another 66,000 square feet (6,100 m²) for 20 new retailers and a spacious food court, as well as a three-level parking garage and a new entrance. The last major mall addition took place in 1999, when Carmike Cinemas opened a new 15-screen stadium-style seating movie theater abutting the annex. The former 4-screen movie theater and a couple of adjacent shops at the mall were converted into Kaufmann's Home, which has since been renamed Macy's Home.

Historical facts

• 60 years before the site became a mall, its natural beauty and attraction led it to become a camp site for the likes of Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison and naturalist John Burroughs.^[4][5]

• Building the $35 million mall (in 1977) took 5.5 million pounds of steel, 9.2 acres (37,000 m²) of roof and enough electrical wiring to reach from Greensburg to Harrisburg.^[4]

• Original tenants still at the mall since its 1977 opening include Claire's, f.y.e. (for your entertainment, formerly Sam Goody, Camelot Music and Record Town, which had three different locations at the mall), GNC, Kamps Shoes, Kay Jewelers (formerly DeRoy), The Limited, Macy's (formerly Kaufmann's), Men's Wearhouse (formerly Coach House), Plumb Gold (formerly Earring Tree), RadioShack, Sears, Spencer Gifts, Sterling Optical, Things Remembered, Tobacco Village, Trombino Music Center (formerly Lowrey Music) and Zales Jewelers.^[4]

• In January 2003, Westmoreland Mall was sold for $112.8 million to the Tennessee-based CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.^[4]

Anchor stores

Currently, Westmoreland Mall features four major department stores including The Bon-Ton, J. C. Penney, Macy's and Sears, who essentially own their own buildings and operate at the mall under a long-term lease. Two junior anchor stores also occupy the mall under long-term leases, including Macy's Home, located on the lower level near Macy's, and Old Navy, which is located near Sears on the lower level. A vacant two-level junior anchor unit, last occupied by Steve & Barry's, is situated next to The Bon-Ton.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. originally operated a store along North Main Street in Downtown Greensburg. In the 1960s, Sears would relocate east of town to the site of what is now the Davis Center. A freestanding auto service center, now AAMCO Transmissions, was also built adjacent to the main store. At the time of the mall's development, the new Sears store would be twice as large as its predecessor, and offer a larger selection of merchandise on two levels.

J. C. Penney, like Sears, has also been in Greensburg since the early 1900s, originally located along South Main Street. It would replace its original store with a larger one at the former Greengate Mall, which operated from 1971 to 1994, when it relocated to Westmoreland Mall. In 2010, the J.C. Penney store was extensively renovated and a Sephora cosmetics shop opened on the store's upper level.

Troutman's, which had a few locations in the area, operated its flagship store in Downtown Greensburg since the early 1920s. However, it would also open a new location at Westmoreland Mall in 1979. Nonetheless, the downtown store would coexist with the mall location for a few years until its closure in 1985. Its sister store at Westmoreland was subsequently converted to Pomeroy’s before being acquired by the parent company of The Bon-Ton in 1987, which still operates to this day.

Pittsburgh-based retailer Kaufmann's never had a presence in Westmoreland County until the mall's opening in 1977. On September 9, 2006, Federated Department Stores converted all former May Company regional department store nameplates, including Kaufmann's, into Macy's as part of a nationwide rebranding program.

Anchor store square footage

Westmoreland Mall

Westmoreland Crossing

Dining

Westmoreland Mall is home to approximately 20 dining establishments, ranging from fast food to casual and fine dining. Many of the restaurants can be found in the food court, in addition to establishments located throughout the mall. Several sit-down restaurants also surround the mall.

The food court, located on the upper level near J. C. Penney, opened in 1994 as part of the mall's renovation and expansion project. In the center of the food court, an elevated dining area is open to diners. In July 2011, Panera Bread opened for business.

References

External links

• Westmoreland Mall Internet Site

Coordinates: 40°18′04″N 79°30′29″W / 40.301°N 79.508°W / 40.301; -79.508