South Hills Village Set To Undergo $50M Upgrade
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- South Hills Village, this region's first fully enclosed shopping mall that opened in 1965, is about to get a $50 million upgrade, KDKA money editor Jon Delano has learned.
"It's great now, and we're going to make it even better," said Les Morris, director of public relations for Simon Property Group that owns South Hills Village.
Morris and Adam Benigni, Upper St. Clair's development director, confirm a three-part renovation plan, starting with the back entrance of the old Sears store that closed a while ago.
"One is the redevelopment of what used to be the Sears building and putting in new retail shops and restaurants on two levels and also a new upper level entrance," Morris said.
A new entrance, much grander than the old Sears entrance, will be constructed at the rear of the existing mall.
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Remember the separate standing Sears Auto Center on that back lot?
That's going, too.
Where that facility currently stands, there's going to be a brand new fitness center.
It's going to be built and run by Minneapolis-based company called Life Time Fitness, and it's going to be big, 120,000 square feet, three stories with an acre on each floor.
Life Time Fitness has facilities over in suburban Philadelphia, but this will be the first in Pittsburgh.
Some call it the country club of gyms, and it will feature an outdoor swimming pool.
"It looks spectacular to me, so I think it's going to be met with a lot of great acclaim," Morris said.
The third part of the upgrade involves a new front entrance to the Village on the Fort Couch Road side.
"There'll be a new reconfigured mall entrance in front along with additional outward-facing retail and restaurants," Morris said.
That means the end of the food court at the Village, to be replaced by many more restaurant choices throughout the mall.
Municipal officials say final approvals are close, but no word from Simon Property on exactly when the work might start.
