Owners of the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills are headed for a criminal trial following a Monday status conference overseen by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill Rangos.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office charged the property owners in April 2025 with one misdemeanor count of creating a public nuisance due to the condition of roads around the mall complex. Until Monday, Namdar and the DA’s office had an agreement to not take the charges to trial as long as there was abatement work done for the damages on the property.
Before winter hit, shoppers saw the milling and paving of Village Center Drive, which runs in front of Lowe’s, Ross and Aldi. Galleria Drive, just off Pittsburgh Mills Boulevard, the site’s main entrance, quickly followed.
The abatement work was “not to the Commonwealth’s satisfaction,” Deputy District Attorney Jon Pittman told TribLive Monday morning.
Namdar, a Long Island-based realty group, operates the mall through individual limited liability companies Pitt Galleria Realty, Pitt Realty, Pitt Galleria CH and Pitt Galleria Nassim.
The trial is scheduled for July 27 in front of Rangos.
Steve Townsend, an attorney representing the Mills, declined to comment about the decision on Monday but previously said a criminal conviction in the case and any liens against the mall property associated with that could adversely affect any future sale of the mall property.
On the civil side
More than 300 code violations at the mall, handed out by Frazer building inspector Bill Payne, are being debated in court, with the lion’s share of more than $17 million already appealed to Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.
Nearly $1.5 million in fines were added to the mounting pile of civil fines on May 4 by District Judge Michael Girardi during a hearing that addressed 28 continued citations stemming from the condition of the Mills mall’s sidewalks, walkways, stairs, the driveway that loops around the mall and parking spaces.
In November, the Mills property owners appealed $11.2 million in fines handed down in August 2025 by Girardi.
At that time, the owners were found guilty of 364 code violations for lack of attention to mall maintenance, including cratered roads, overgrown weeds and building code violations cited by Payne.
The appeal hearing ended with Allegheny County Judge Thomas Flaherty handing down more than $17.6 million worth of fines. All of those fines then were appealed in Commonwealth Court.