Commission Approves Plans For South Hills Village Renovations
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BETHAL PARK, Pa. (KDKA) – South Hills Village Mall is one of the most popular shopping centers in the area and the mall's owner is taking steps to make sure it stays that way.
On Wednesday night, we're seeing plans for a $45 million renovation.
The, Bethel Park Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to move forward on preliminary plans to renovate South Hills Village Mall.
The owner of the mall, Simon Property Group says the mall must make changes in order to stay competitive. Simon officials wouldn't say how much the project will cost, but said it will be substantial amount of money.
The plan is to renovate South Hills Village Mall in three phases.
First, the will redevelop what used to be Sears department store -- reconstructing it from the inside and give that area an outward facing retail look.
Then, the area where Sears Automotive used to be, they will add a 120,000 square foot Lifetime Fitness facility and 40,000 square foot outdoor pool deck area. This would be the only Lifetime Fitness in Pittsburgh.
Lastly, they will redesign the food court area and add outward facing retail and restaurants to the front of the mall.
"It's a needed renovation," said Mark Viehman, the chairman of the Bethel Park planning and zoning commission. "Most malls around the area are becoming obsolete and they're trying to upgrade it to make it more popular to customers and consumers."
Simon Properties officials said they're looking at the closing of Sears, as an opportunity to embrace the changing mall model.
"Malls are evolving everyday with things happening in the department store world and evolution of shopping centers across country," said Vice President of Development with Simon Scott Richardson. "We are excited to redevelop. The building for the last few years has not brought a lot to the shopping center."
The commission will make a recommendation to council and council will have to make a preliminary vote now that Wednesday night's vote was made.
Construction could begin as early as fall of this year. The goal is to have the entire renovation completed by 2021.