SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE

Washington Road / US 19 and Fort Couch Road

Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania 

The Iron City's second "mall-type mart" was developed on an 85-acre tract, located 7.5 miles south of the Golden Triangle. SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE straddled the corporate limits of suburban Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair. It was designed by Los Angeles-based Welton Becket & Associates and Victor Gruen Associates, with additional input from Pittsburgh's Hoffman, Loeffler & Wolfe firm. In its original state, the mall covered approximately 1,137,000 leasable square feet.

The 2-level complex was built by Pittsburgh-based Don-Mark Realty (later known as the Oxford Development Company). An official grand opening was held on July 28, 1965. Three anchor department stores were dedicated; a 2-level (169,300 square foot) Gimbels-Pittsburgh, 2-level (193,000 square foot), Pittsburgh-based Joseph Horne Company and 2-level (146,000 square foot) Sears.

Pittsburgh artisan Virgil Cantini created "The New Horizon," a steel and glass sculpture, for the Horne's store. The interior of Sears was decorated with murals created by G. Hunter Jones, of New York City. Gimbels' store featured a domed ceiling and travertine vinyl floors.

 
Eighty inline stores opened for business as part of the July 1965 grand opening. These included Lerner Shops, Pup-A-Go-Go, an (11,100- square foot) Sun Drugs and 1-level F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. A & P and Giant Eagle supermarkets, located in a freestanding strip center, were dedicated in October 1965. The RKO-Stanley-Warner South Hills Village Theatre was built as an eastern outparcel of the mall. This single-screen venue was dedicated on July 19, 1966 and was eventually divided into a five-screen multiplex.

Rivals of SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE included CENTURY III MALL (1979) {5.6 miles east, in West Mifflin} and the upscale GALLERIA OF MOUNT LEBANON (1964-1988) {.8 mile north, in Mount Lebanon}. There was also PARKWAY CENTER MALL (1982) {5.4 miles north, in Pittsburgh} and VILLAGE SQUARE (1982) {.3 mile northeast, in Bethel Park}. These were smaller, community-class shopping venues and provided no competition to SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE.

The Oxford Development Company sold the mall in  January 1982, with the Connecticut General Insurance Company becoming its new proprietor. Oxford was enlisted to manage the complex. SHV became rail-transit-accessible with the completion of the 10.5 route mile, Stage 1 "T" light rail line. Service was inaugurated in July 1985. The mall's southeast parking lot adjoins the South Hills Village station, which is the southern terminus of the Blue Line-South Hills Village route.

Gimbels became the first SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE anchor to change nameplates. The store was shuttered on August 23, 1986. It was renovated and expanded -to 254,000 square feet- with a third level. It re-opened, as a Pittsburgh-based Kaufmann's, on August 13, 1987. 

The Joseph Horne Company was acquired by Cincinnati's Federated Stores. Horne's locations were shuttered on August 29, 1994, The SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE unit was expanded with a third level (to 277,700 square feet). It re-opened, under the Columbus, Ohio-based Lazarus nameplate, on October 20, 1995. It was rebranded as Lazarus-Macy's on August 1, 2003 and was fully "Macy-ated" on February 6, 2005. After the Kaufmann's chain was absorbed by Federated Stores in 2005, the SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE location was sold to Reading, Pennsylvania-based Boscov's. They opened a store on August 26, 2006 and closed in October 2008. 

SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE was renovated during the early1990s. The first phase of a 15 million dollar face lift was completed in July 1993. Entrances were rebuilt and the mall refurbished with new ceilings, skylights, landscaping and marble flooring. Moreover, a new escalator and glass elevator were installed in Center Court.

The second phase of renovation, completed in late 1994, added a 14-bay Food Court, which was built in front of the Upper Level Main Entrance. This added approximately 21,600 square feet to the shopping center's gross leasable area.

By this time, SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE had become one of the most upscale shopping centers in the metro area. It was acquired by the Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group in 1997. The 5-plex cinema closed in August 1997. It was razed and replaced by the Carmike South Hills Village 10. Its first features were shown on July 10, 1998.

A subsequent addition to SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE brought a (28,000 square foot) Barnes & Noble, which was built as a freestanding store in the northeast parking area. It opened in April 2005. With this addition, the mall encompassed 1,137,000 leasable square feet, with 130 stores and services.

In November 2009, it was announced that the vacant Gimbels-Kaufmann's-Boscov's was to be renovated and retenanted. According to plans, a (145,000 square foot) Target would be created in an expanded lower level. An (88,400 square foot) Dick's Sporting Goods would occupy the existing building's 2 upper levels. This new Dick's would replace a (31,500 square foot) store in the mall's annex.

The Simon Property Group purchased the vacant Boscov's structure in September 2010. Reconstruction work was delayed but finally got underway in May 2012. The grand opening of the vertically-stacked stores took place on March 10, 2013. The mall now housed around 1,196,000 leasable square feet.

In April 2014, an interior-exterior face lift got underway. The Food Court was remodeled, with its seating area expanded. New mall entrances and escalators were installed and several tenants either renovated their spaces or moved to new locations in the mall. The project was completed in November 2014.

Sears, which anchored SHV for over 53 years, went dark on September 2, 2018. The abandoned building was gutted and replaced by a 2-level (124,000 square foot), Davenport-based Von Maur department store. This mercantile welcomed first customers on November 9, 2024. 

 

Sources:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Press
"Dual Anchor Shopping Centers 1952-1965" / Richard Longstreth
https://www.simon.com / Simon Property Group
https://www.cinematreasures.org
https://www.portauthority.org
https://www.prnewswire.com

https://www.observer-reporter.com
"South Hills Village" article on Wikipedia