Frazer puts Pittsburgh Mills owner on notice: Fix potholes or face court

Fix the potholes or end up in court.

That’s the message Frazer officials gave the owner of the Pittsburgh Mills mall, saying the condition of the parking lots and roads at the shopping center have become a public safety hazard.

Potholes at the Mills have become an infamous sore spot among visitors to the shopping center off Route 28, leaving flat tires and bent rims for motorists.

“The township is fully prepared to take them to court,” said Supervisor Lori Ziencik.

“We’re not sitting on our hands. We know it’s our jurisdiction, but it’s private property and we don’t have $3.6 million to fix the roads.”

Mall owner Namdar Realty Group is responsible for repairs and paving to the roads in and around the mall. Ziencik said the township has made repeated requests for some attention to the problem.

“They’re absentee landlords,” Ziencik said.

Namdar Property Manager Heather Bochman was not immediately able to be reached for comment.

In February, state Rep. Mandy Steele’s office intervened on behalf of constituents who had barraged the legislator with complaints about the condition of the mall roads.

There were a few holes patched at that time, but that was only a fraction of the craters that are scattered throughout the mall and its outlying parcels, Steele’s Chief of Staff Jess Baker said.

“It was my understanding that they were waiting for spring to begin work on the property, but there has not been any substantive work done,” Baker said.

In recent weeks, Steele’s office has been flooded with an increasing number of complaints, mainly citing the lack of proper road markings and also the “huge” potholes, Baker said.

“Businesses and residents have been putting cones in the holes to alert other drivers of the depth of some of these massive potholes,” she said.

Baker described the situation a “public health crisis.”

She relayed a story about an elderly woman who said she can no longer shop at the Mills because she’s damaged her car twice driving to the Walmart and Aldi grocery stores there.

Baker intends to reach out to the township, mall business owners and Allegheny County officials to plead for help on what she called an increasingly unsafe situation.

Township Solicitor Alyssa Golfieri was not immediately able to be reached for comment.

Ziencik, who also has been fielding calls on the issue for months, wasn’t shy about expressing her frustration.

She and every other township staffer travel the roads at the several times a day, Ziencik said. The township’s municipal offices are located in the mall.

“Our township is spending money to fight this and it’s ridiculous,” she said. “We have 1,100 residents. It’s not money we want to spend.

“We know the holes are deep now. Can you imagine next spring, after we salt all winter?”