They’re knocking ours down!
http://postgazette.com/pg/07046/762141-54.stm
Addition to Northway may be set to open by Christmas
Thursday, February 15, 2007By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Demolition of a movie theater and some adjacent stores at the former Northway Mall will start almost immediately now that Ross commissioners have approved plans for the project.
Three new free-standing stores and an outdoor pedestrian walkway are expected to be completed in time for the Christmas season, according to a spokesman for Northway Group, the mall’s owner.
The mall will remain open during the construction.
The demolition and new construction involve about 58,000 square feet of shopping space. They are prime elements in the plan for the area’s oldest enclosed shopping center, transforming it from a regional mall into a “village environment.” The 45-year-old shopping complex also has a new name, the Shoppes at Northway.
The complex is at the southwest corner of Babcock Boulevard and McKnight Road, very close to Ross’ border with McCandless.
The commissioners approved the site plan Monday. The project previously had gained the support of the township planning commission.
Plans call for knocking down the former Cinemas Eight theater, which closed last month, and eight other stores on the mall’s upper level. What is now an inside hallway between Marshall’s department store and Dick’s Sporting Goods will become a canopied, open-air walkway facing Browns Lane.
Three free-standing stores will be built at sites within the parking lot. Since the demolition will create additional parking, the number of parking spaces and square footage of shopping area will remain the same.
Site plans and the design of building facades for each of the three new stores will have to be approved by the township.
In addition to Dick’s and Marshall’s, the Shoppes at Northway is home to Border’s Books & Music, Value City, Ritz Camera, Old Navy and Party City.