Ten months after Bangor filed two lawsuits against the owner of the local mall, civil citations and a criminal case against the same company for a shopping center it owns 800 miles away in a Pittsburgh suburb are quickly moving forward.
Frazer Township issued 400 citations in April and May against Namdar Realty Group related to the maintenance of the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills. There are crumbling parking lots, knee-high grass and inoperable doors, according to TribLive.
In July, a lawyer for Namdar pleaded guilty to 36 citations and a magistrate issued a fine of $1.8 million. Another hearing is scheduled for late August for additional citations related to potholes and road conditions.
It’s unclear why Namdar quickly admitted guilt in the Frazer Township case, while two lawsuits are still pending against the company in Bangor and another was filed in California in July for maintaining a nuisance property. But the different legal actions and responses from Namdar show how municipalities are trying to force the company to maintain its properties.
Namdar Realty Group owns 372 properties across 37 states, according to its website. Countless issues plague those properties, from a defaulted loan in Connecticut to fenced off parking lot sinkholes in Pennsylvania to rodents in the food court in California.
Frazier Township was pleased with the decision to issue fines, township manager Lori Ziencik said. She declined to comment further because there are still citations pending.
The Office of the District Attorney of Allegheny County, the county in which Frazier Township is located, criminally charged the LLC that owns the Pittsburgh Mills with public nuisance. The office does not comment on pending criminal cases, a spokesperson said. A jury trial is scheduled for February.
The code violations overlap with some of the issues alleged in the criminal public nuisance, the Alleghany County DA spokesperson said.
No fines have been assessed in the ongoing lawsuits in Bangor, but a judge ruled in April that Namdar has violated multiple city codes. In February the city asked a judge to assess at least $2 million in fines and fees.
Repairs are finally happening at the Bangor Mall, at least three months after Namdar first said it was addressing ongoing concerns.
Some potholes have been patched throughout the private road that surrounds the mall. It’s preliminary work as the mall prepares to pave, City of Bangor spokesperson David Warren said.
Repairs of the broken sewer main near the former Books-A-Million have also begun, Warren said. Plans to fix it are being finalized, he said. A sinkhole formed around a 54-inch stormwater pipe in August 2024, causing a 10-inch sewer line to break, leading to sewage spilling into retention ponds.
The mall manager told code enforcement that the leaking skylights in the roof have either been repaired or replaced, Warren said.
Warren did not respond to additional questions about the ongoing lawsuits. Namdar declined to provide comment.
The Bangor Mall sign, which is missing letters, has not been fixed.
Namdar and the city of Bangor are scheduled for a final hearing Sept. 22.
