A dead mall
In the far western reaches of the Greater Pittsburgh area, in the rolling hills south of the Pittsburgh International Airport lies the Mall at Robinson. Though in the vicinity of a large commercial district, the mall itself sits isolated from its neighbors and makes one wonder, why was this place even built?
1 to 3- The food court entrance next to the former Sears. 4- The front façade of the Mall at Robinson. 5- The northern rear entrance to the interior. 6- The grassy area in the mall’s rear left undeveloped for a future anchor that will never come.
I first came upon the Mall at Robinson on my first visit to the Steel City in 2004 as I rode the Airport Express bus of Pittsburgh Regional Transit on my way to downtown. I never actually visited; I just noted that there happened to be a rather large and out of place shopping mall rather far down a hill from our location.
The Mall at Robinson lease plan ca. 2001. View the full PDF version here.
The only noteworthy thing about it seemed to be its poor location seemingly a distance from significant residential development. It reminded me of Bellevue Center in Nashville in that it was perhaps built in anticipation of later housing developments that never came.
1- The exterior of Dick’s Sporting Goods next to the southernmost rear entrance to the Mall at Robinson. 2- Macy’s façade. 3 & 4- JCPenney. 5 & 6- Sears former store still vacant after nearly a decade.
I finally did find my way to the Mall at Robinson on a sunny and cold February morning in 2025. I took the number 24 bus on my way from downtown and that ride had to be the most tedious ever. Though we passed a small town or two, for the most part our surroundings were mainly rural.
We finally entered the Mall at Robinson’s sprawling parking lot past an abandoned road. There was a large grassy area in the rear of the complex surely set aside for future additions that never came. This didn’t bode well for what was already, in my view, at least a dying mall.
Inside the Mall at Robinson.
The Mall at Robinson’s interior wasn’t much better. Though opened for over two decades, the inside had obviously never seen any sort of renovation. The outdated décor in addition to what I noticed were a large number of vacancies did not make me optimistic about the center's future.
The Mall at Robinson Mallmanac ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.
The Mall at Robinson opened in 2001 with over 800,000 square feet of gross leasable area. It was built abutting a free-standing Kaufmann’s store that had debuted in 1998 serving as the center’s northernmost anchor.
1 & 2- The former mall entrance to Sears. 3- Dick’s entryway. 4- JCPenney at center court. 5 to 8- Approaching the doors to Macy’s.
Kauffman’s was joined by Sears at the opposite end while Dick’s Sporting Goods and JCPenney were located in between. The double tiered facility also boasted around 125 inline stores and a food court on its upper level.
Over the years, Kauffman’s gave way to a Macy’s outlet when the Pittsburgh based nameplate was purchased by the latter. In 2018 the Sears store announced their departure, leaving a large vacant entity on their side of the mall. No replacements have been announced in the 7 years since its closure.
1 to 4- Center court. 5 to 8- Waling to the north of center court toward Macy’s.
Recent bizarre crime incidents have also plagued the retail destination. In 2021 there was a near panic in the food court as what was thought to be gunfire rang out. Though mall management confirmed that no shots were actually fired, many patrons were left shaken.
The Mall at Robinson Mallmanac ca. 2024. View the full PDF version here.
In both 2019 and 2023 there were incidents of stolen credit cards that resulted in thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges. Later, in 2024, a man drove his truck through a JCPenney entrance and vandalized the parking lot before leaving his “mark” at a nearby eatery.
The Mall at Robinson’s northernmost concourse.
But perhaps the most perplexing news came in 2022 when the center was purchased by notorious investment firm Kohan. Well known for their nearly non-existent upkeep of their portfolio, the acquisition doesn’t bode well for the Mall at Robinson, which itself seems to have been on a downward trajectory since its opening.
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