Bid to redirect $1M Century III Mall demolition grant for road repairs rejected

An Allegheny County judge ruled that the DA’s office failed to provide evidence supporting its request to divert state demolition funds.

By PAULA REED WARD
TribLive

An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge on Friday rejected a request by the district attorney’s office to redirect a $1 million grant given to the owners of Century III Mall for demolition of the property to be used to rebuild the main road that connects state Routes 51 and 885.

“There is no evidentiary basis to find, whatsoever, you have a probability of success on the merits,” said Judge Jill E. Rangos.

She found that the district attorney’s office failed to present any evidence or witnesses to make its case, and ruled from the bench Friday.

“There’s way too many what ifs, and there’s no evidence,” the judge said.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. on July 1 filed a motion for a temporary restraining order asking that the grant money, awarded in November 2024 by the Pennsylvania Office of the Budget’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, be redirected.

The $1 million, he said, should not be distributed to the mall’s owners until the property is brought up to West Mifflin Borough standards. Then, he said, it should be used exclusively to fix Century III Mall Boulevard, which has been closed for years as the property continued to deteriorate.

During argument Friday, Deputy District Attorney Jon Pittman argued that for years, the mall’s current owners allowed the property to fall into disrepair, failing to put any money into it to address concerns.

“The owners let it turn into a criminal, public nuisance,” Pittman said.

And then, he continued, once they finally agreed to the demolition, they sought out a grant from the state to reimburse them for that demolition.

“The result here, in the commonwealth’s eyes, is so absurd it can’t be what the General Assembly wanted,” Pittman said.

He argued the money should be used for the public good.

“All the commonwealth is asking for is, ‘just this one time, can you be a good citizen?’” the prosecutor continued. “You’ve pulled every dollar out of that property, ignoring the law. And then you get a million dollars on top of that and provide no public benefit at all.

“It’s just so offensive to the commonwealth.”

But Steve Townsend, the mall owner’s attorney, said the district attorney’s office has no right to even ask to redirect the money.

“I think their office filed this in bad faith — trying to pull on the court’s heartstrings,” Townsend said, calling it an “abuse of process.”

By the time the motion to take the grant money was filed, he continued, the mall had already been demolished, which means the nuisance had already been abated.

To redirect the money now — to repave a private road — would be a misuse of the funds earmarked for demolition, Townsend said.

“If Mr. Zappala is so upset we got a $1 million grant, then take it up with the state legislature,” Townsend said.