New Management Visits Tenants at Northway Shoppes

Representatives of  planned to be on site first Wednesday to assess the state of the mall and begin meeting its tenants.

"We're going to make contact as quickly as we can," said Ken Thomas, a director at Compass Advisory Partners LLC of Pittsburgh. 

Thomas, who lives in the North Hills, said the company doesn't have any intention of terminating or changing current leases but plans to try to fill vacant space in the mall with new business. 

"We'd like to maximize the cash flows," he said. "We're certainly going to be available and accessible." 

An Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judge appointed a new day-to-day operations manager Tuesday after  on the 385,000-square-foot shopping center complex at 8000 McKnight Road. 

The owners of the property, Pittsburgh-based Northway Group L.P., stopped making payments to its lender in October and owed $23,688,588.43 as of Jan. 24, according to court records. 

The mall is about 50 years old and claims its fame as the first indoor mall in Pennsylvania and among the first indoor malls to open in the United States. 

Current tenants and customers alike remember those good times and talk about how great it would be if whomever buys the property can restore that feeling. 

"This was the social center of the North Hills," said Ross resident John Yocca, as he sat outside Mamma Lucia's with three old friends Tuesday afternoon.

The group has been meeting at the mall for about two hours every afternoon each day. They tease each other—and any pretty woman walking by. 

"We're buying the place. We're going to open a strip joint," said John Jarvis, also of Ross, as he went into more detail on this plan. 

Yocca tried to curtail the dirty talk.

"These guys are landmarks here. They're famous for their commentary," he said, adding that they used to spend quite a bit of time at Tiffin's dancing and playing music.

"They're waiting for the comeback, for the girls to come back," he said. 

Paul Mancino, the owner of Mamma Lucia, said his Italian food and pizza restaurant is one of the two oldest stores in the mall. He's been operating at the Shoppes at Northway for 40 years, he said. 

"This has always been a community mall," he said. Back when, "It was so busy. Every day here in this mall, it was like Christmas time." 

He switched locations in the mall about five years ago and now has 2,000 square feet with an entrance close to the parking lot. He still has two more years on his lease with an option for three additional years. 

"I put a lot of money in this," he said, as he reflected on what the future might hold. "Of course, you worry." 

Mike Mishra, owner of the Rock America store on the first floor of the mall, said he, too, is concerned. He moved into the mall 11 years ago, drawn by the mom and pop stores that would be his neighbors.

"We had no idea what was going on," he said, adding that they read the news about the foreclosure proceedings in the news. "It was kept a secret." 

"I think we're all upset that nobody told us anything," he said. "We should have been informed of what was going on." 

Ross resident Cherie Drotar said the whole situation was sad. As she dropped her film off at Ritz Camera, she said she remembers bringing her son, now 25, to walk the mall. 

"It's a fabulous mall. It was. I can't believe it can't be that again," she said. "It's a landmark." 

At Northway Shoes & Repair, Tony DeMarco listened on the radio as the news of the new management company was broadcast, but he already knew the little that was being shared.

His son, Danny, showed up for the hearing Tuesday in an attempt to find out something about what was going on with the mall's owners and had brought back a copy of the consent order that Judge Christine Ward issued. 

The shop has been part of the mall going back since the late 1960s. DeMarco has owned it for 32 of those years. They're growing—making 1,500 shoe repairs a month—and they sought to expand in a nearby space in the mall but were unable to close the deal under Northway Group's management.

He and Mancino, who had popped down for a chat with DeMarco after a reporter interviewed him, laughed and fought a mock fight over who was in charge of the mall.

"I'm the captain," DeMarco said.

"No, I'm the captain," Mancino teased.

"I'm the captain," DeMarco asserted. "As in, if I'm the captain, this ship don't sink."  

More seriously, though, he said he was looking forward to meeting the new management team.

"When they come around tomorrow, we'll ask questions and see if they have answers."

This story originally published Feb. 28.