Monroeville Mall sold to Walmart for more than $30 million
MONROEVILLE (KDKA) - The owners of the Monroeville Mall have announced that it has been sold for a price of $34 million.
This includes the main mall building as well as the adjacent strip mall, the expansion near the front entrance, as well as the land parcels for Best Buy and Firestone.
The company that owned the mall, CBL Properties, said the sale will allow them to focus on what they call "higher performing properties."
"The sale of Monroeville Mall is a great example of the resilient value of the well-located real estate in a dynamic market," commented Stephen D. Lebovitz, CBL's Chief Executive Officer in a statement. "This transaction allows us to focus efforts on higher productivity properties, generates significant cash proceeds, and further reduces leverage."
Monroeville Mall has been up for sale since December, and KDKA has learned that the mall was sold to Walmart.
Texas-based real estate firm Cypress Equities says it'll lead the redevelopment of the property and says it's considering residential as well as new business opportunities.
Meanwhile, one expert told KDKA-TV that the $34 million price tag appears low for a mall of Monroeville's size.
The future of the mall was on the minds of shoppers on Friday night.
"I hope it stays, that's all I can say," said Hope Pingree. "I don't want Macy's to go away, I don't want [JcPenney's] to go away, let alone Coast and Main."
Monroeville Mall first opened in 1969 and one shopper said his mother described it as the first mall she'd ever been to.
"It had an ice rink, it was the place to be," Joseph Silberman said.
"We had Kaufman's, we had Gimbles, you had high-class department stores," Silberman's mother added.
She said now, it's just not the same.
