Northern Lights Shopping Center is a
strip mall
A strip mall, strip center or strip plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. ...
located in
Economy, Pennsylvania
Economy is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,079 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
History
Economy was established in 1825 by a Harmonist society, and named to indi ...
near
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
. It was a major
power center-style strip mall from its opening until the early 2000's. A
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
opened on the adjacent lot to Northern Lights in 2014. Parts of the plaza were demolished in 2018.
History
The plaza opened in the late 1950s along
Pennsylvania Route 65
Pennsylvania Route 65 (PA 65, also known as the 65th Infantry Division Memorial Highway), is a major state highway located in western Pennsylvania, United States. The route, traveling north–south from the Interstate 279/ U.S. Route 19 Truck ( ...
(then part of
Pennsylvania Route 88), serving as the major shopping center for the Beaver Valley. For decades,
J. C. Penney was the main
anchor store for the plaza, having a three-story store at the plaza. Other anchor tenants included
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
,
local supermarket chain
Giant Eagle
Giant Eagle, Inc. (Western Pennsylvania English: ) and stylized as giant eagle) is an American supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...
, and discount department store chain
Hills
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...
. The plaza was divided into three buildings: the main eastern portion of the plaza facing the
Ohio River housed J. C. Penney and Hills. The northern portion of the plaza housed Sears; this space was later occupied by Big Lots, and was most recently occupied by Giant Eagle. All three buildings also housed many smaller shops. Despite the opening of the
Beaver Valley Mall
The Beaver Valley Mall is a regional shopping mall located in Center Township, Pennsylvania, serving Beaver County within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. It is owned by the Namdar Realty Group. Its anchors are Boscov's, Dick's Sporting Goo ...
in 1970 in nearby
Center Township, Northern Lights continued to attract shoppers, although Sears did move to the Beaver Valley Mall at this time, where it remained until its closure in 2016.
However, the collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s, combined with the Beaver Valley Mall's easy access off of the
Beaver Valley Expressway and the rapid development of Center Township,
Cranberry Township, and
Robinson Township, eventually saw a gradual decline for Northern Lights. In 1998, J. C. Penney moved to the Beaver Valley Mall to become its new fourth anchor store. Around the same time, Hills was acquired by
Ames
Ames may refer to:
Places United States
* Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas
* Ames, Colorado
* Ames, Illinois
* Ames, Indiana
* Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name
* Ames, Kansas
* Ames, Nebraska
* Ames, New York
* Ames, Ok ...
; however, Ames itself experienced its own problems related to the Hills acquisition.
Ames liquidated and closed all of its stores in 2002, leaving Giant Eagle as the plaza's sole anchor tenant for the next 19 years. Gradually, many of the smaller stores left, leaving a few retailers and a small handful of mom-and-pop businesses and doctor offices as of July 2013.
In 2006, the roof at the former J. C. Penney location collapsed. This prompted the then-new owners of the plaza,
Zamias Services, Inc., to demolish the former J. C. Penney location for safety reasons, leaving a big hole (literally) in the middle of the plaza and removing over of leaseable space.
There were talks of moving the remaining tenants into the two smaller portions of the plaza so that the two larger portions—the two that were on each side of J. C. Penney (including the former Hills/Ames store) could be considered for redevelopment but this did not occur.
Zamias later admitted that if Northern Lights wasn't included in a package deal with other properties such as
Pittsburgh Mills
The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, or simply Pittsburgh Mills, is a super-regional shopping center northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in Frazer Township, along PA Route 28 near its intersection with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The mall is the s ...
and instead was standalone, it would not have acquired the property.
Efforts at redevelopment
![NorthernLightsSC2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/NorthernLightsSC2.jpg)
Shortly after the demolition of the former J. C. Penney location,
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
representatives visited Northern Lights to express interest in opening a location at the plaza. Although Zamias was in favor of Walmart's proposed plaza location, Giant Eagle and its Northern Lights franchisee opted to enforce a provision its lease granting the brand exclusive grocery rights there, in effect preventing Walmart from building on the site.
Giant Eagle has similar leases in other shopping plazas in the area, preventing tenants such as
Target
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...
from expanding their grocery options at certain locations.
After Zamias was forced to decline Walmart's interest due to Giant Eagle's lease, Walmart's representatives noticed the 230-acre hillside behind the plaza, which had partially been obscured by the whole plaza but was now visible with the former J. C. Penney location having been demolished. Walmart's interest in the hillside subsequently increased after Walmart abandoned its plans to build a location at the site of the former
Dixmont State Hospital
Dixmont State Hospital (originally the Department of the Insane in the Western Pennsylvania Hospital of Pittsburgh) was a hospital located northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Built in 1862, Dixmont was once a state-of-the-art institution known ...
in nearby
Kilbuck Township in 2007. Walmart contacted the owners of the hillside, the estate of Erwin S. Boal, and was able to strike a deal to purchase the property for development.
With the help of Economy Borough, in 2007 Zamias willingly gave up a portion of its parking lot and the site of the former J. C. Penney location by
eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
in order to build a road connecting PA 65 with the hillside and the future Walmart location, despite legal claims made by Giant Eagle. Giant Eagle lost the eminent domain case to Economy in Beaver County Common Pleas Court, a ruling which was later upheld by the
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania is one of Pennsylvania's two intermediate appellate courts. The Commonwealth Court's headquarters is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with jurisdiction over administrative and civil public law. The Superior ...
in 2009. The
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...
refused to hear the case, clearing the way for the Walmart to eventually be constructed. After receiving the necessary permits from the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...
in late 2012 for the connecting road, Walmart began construction, and opened May 21, 2014. Once Walmart opened, Zamias expected Northern Lights to start filling up with tenants again, since Walmart customers would have to drive through Northern Lights to access Walmart.
[http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-west/walmart-store-could-be-built-behind-northern-lights-in-economy-228593/ ]
The opening of Walmart next door to Northern Lights gave Beaver County its third Walmart location, which primarily serves residents of
Aliquippa,
Ambridge,
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
,
Conway, and Economy, while Walmart's existing location in Center Township will serve the main Beaver Valley area (
Beaver,
Bridgewater,
Monaca
Monaca ( ) is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States along the Ohio River, northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 5,615 as of the 2020 census. First incorporated as Phillipsburg as the home of the New Philadelphia Socie ...
,
New Brighton, and
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
) and its existing location in
Chippewa Township serves rural northern Beaver County as well as
Beaver Falls and to a lesser extent
East Palestine, Ohio
East Palestine ( ) is a village in northeastern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,761 at the 2020 census. Located on the state's border with Pennsylvania, East Palestine is 20 miles (31 km) south of Youngstown and ...
in order for
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
residents to take advantage of Pennsylvania
not charging sales tax on clothing.
On June 26, 2017, Zamias announced that the entire portion of Northern Lights south of the road connecting PA 65 with Walmart would be demolished for redevelopment. This included the former Hills/Ames building. Economy borough had recently cited Zamias (who had recently lost Pittsburgh Mills to
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
in a
foreclosure sale
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
) for many safety violations for the unused portions of Northern Lights.
Demolition began in January 2020.
Giant Eagle ultimately closed its Northern Lights location on January 2, 2021, leaving the lease issue completely moot and the plaza now able to open multiple grocers.
References
External links
Official Website{{Pittsburgh Shopping
Abandoned shopping malls in the United States
Urban decay in the United States
Shopping malls in Metro Pittsburgh
Shopping malls established in 1962
Buildings and structures in Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Tourist attractions in Beaver County, Pennsylvania