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Economy

Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills - Empty Malls and Shopping Centers: How Government Fuels Malinvestments

2023-02-02

[Mises] If you live in the United States, you are most likely familiar with empty storefronts, especially in malls. Once-great shopping centers are now suffering vacancies and a lack of patrons. To the readers of mises.org, it should not be surprising that the government is largely responsible. The state, through various interventions, has led to more vacant storefronts and financially struggling malls than there would be otherwise. Let me explain using a personal anecdote.

One of the malls close to me is the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, in Fraser Township, Pennsylvania. I used to stop at this mall with friends all the time. Recently, I revisited the mall while I happened to be in the area, and what greeted me was an endless procession of empty stores and a vacant food court. The sight was depressing, and I wondered what caused this languishing idleness. There are two things that might explain the unfortunate state of the Galleria: tax incentives and credit expansion.

The creation of the Galleria was welcomed with much fanfare due to its lavish promise of success. Possibilities as grand as a water park and even a nearby National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) track were said to be right around the corner. Estimates of the mall’s future revenue excited local government officials, spurring a twenty-year tax agreement "defer[ring] a portion of property taxes to pay for the new $21 million Route 28 interchange leading to the mall as well as needed infrastructure like water and sewer lines."

Posted by:DooDahMan

#7 I used to like malls. Many are gone. The ones that still around are often unsafe. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, for instance, has a Clockwork Orange feel to it.

Posted by: Super Hose 2023-02-02 14:18

#6 I watched that Mall deteriorate over the years. The Springhill Suits at the Mills was our go to hotel for our family visits to PGH. It was close to the turnpike, our relatives & Friends, highway to Butler or Pittsburgh and of course the mall and eateries. Every visit was met with disappointment of something closing. Finally we gave up and now stay in the North Hills past Ross Park mall.

Posted by: airandee 2023-02-02 11:01

#5 Lots of companies found out "vertical integration" had unsustainable overhead.

Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-02-02 08:15

#4 A while ago, I posted a lament for a lovely and eccentric mall in downtown San Diego, which declined and died in the early 00's - and there was an interesting discussion about them, with several commenters pointing out that what the malls were in the business of, besides shopping - was security. Yes, indoors and climate controlled was part of it - but malls offered a safe alternative to going to a downtown location with minimal parking and ... let's face it, scary street people. The other thing that emerged about malls was that the cost of renting shop space in one was so high as to be out of the reach of small entrepreneurs. Only national chains could afford an outlet in a mall, and that led to a very boring sameness. No one-offs, no local products. And when malls started to be frequented by hostile youths ... well, customers fled. https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/62595.html

Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2023-02-02 07:46

#3 Deadmalls.com

Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-02-02 07:32

#2 They are tearing down one end of the Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach to build apartments. It's prime real estate on International Speedway Boulevard across from the track.

It's mostly empty and the couple stores there I occasionally go to hopefully will relocate rather than just close and disappear.

Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-02-02 07:30

#1 And the most infamous -

Like so many other projects that use eminent domain and rely on taxpayer subsidies, New London's Fort Trumbull project has been a failure. After spending $78 million in taxpayer dollars, the city of New London and the private developer have engaged in no new construction since the project was approved in 2000. Indeed, since the property owners disputing the takings owned less than two acres in a 90-acre project area, the city has always had a vast majority of the land available for development. Yet, no new development has occurred. The preferred developer for part of the site, Corcoran Jennison, recently missed its latest deadline for securing financing for building on the site and was terminated as the "designated developer."

The property at the center of the case, the house owned by plaintiff Susette Kelo, has since been relocated in its entirety to another part of town. - site

Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-02-02 07:05

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