Heights Plaza owners plan resurgence: 'Despite challenges, it can still be community center'

If the longstanding Heights Plaza Shopping Center in Harrison is going to survive, it has to change with the times.

At least that’s how the plaza’s owner, New York-based Benbrooke Realty Investment Co., sees it as it plans to demolish part of the almost 70-year-old shopping center to make room for apartments.

“This was the center of commerce, but, like everything else, things change,” said Rich Lubkin of Benbrooke. “The property has been distressed for many years.

“Its history is glorious, going back to the commercialization of Natrona Heights many decades ago.”

Benbrooke, which operates with financial backers as Heights Plaza Partners, finalized ownership of the 30-acre plaza in 2022.

Since then, the company has floated proposals to revitalize the plaza, which opened in 1955 just off Freeport Road where an airport once operated.

As plans progress, a portion of the property could be demolished to make room for housing.

Benbrooke is targeting the northern wing of the site — where the bulk of empty storefronts are — for an apartment building or senior living facility.

“There’s too much commercial space for the community’s need,” Lubkin said. “We’ve made a decision not to re-tenant the northern few acres where Dunham’s was.

“We think, in the long run, that that part of the property will be better served as noncommercial use.”

No plans have been finalized.

Harrison Commissioner Jim Erb isn’t opposed to change as long as it fits the needs of residents.

“We have to make sure all the residents, especially the elderly, have access to shopping and a way to get their goods,” he said.

The plaza abuts the Harrison Hi-Rise, an eight-story apartment building run by the Allegheny County Housing Authority for senior citizens and the disabled.

“A lot of people in the high-rise don’t drive, so I’m not sure how plans would affect them,” Erb said. “We want them to be able to continue to live independently.”

There are four parcels that comprise the plaza. The main commercial strip runs from the high-rise to the Community Market grocery store. It sits about 70% vacant.

Benbrooke also owns the section that houses Allegheny Health Network offices, the strip that includes the U.S. Post Office and the Wendy’s restaurant property.

According to Allegheny County real estate records, the four parcels sold in March 2022 for $8 million — down from a 2003 price tag of $20.5 million when bought by Wild Blue Management.

Today, the properties have a combined assessed value of $7 million.

Harrison Township Manager Amy Rockwell said the township has not received any applications for development or demolition.

The approval process is generally dependent on whether the proposed use meets the current zoning, Rockwell said.

“Contingent upon what is proposed, it will need to be reviewed for zoning and land use compliance,” she said. “If it needs a variance, they would need to submit to the zoning hearing board to request the new use, and then to the planning commission for land development.”

If development is approved, building plans would be submitted to the township’s third-party building inspector for review.

“We are not aware of any tentative plans or proposals,” Rockwell said.

Other changes are already moving forward.

While specialty shops like Princess Pastries and Ken Kamera have long since been shuttered, amenity-based storefronts are moving in.

Liberty Tax Service will occupy a vacant outparcel in the parking lot near Community Market and the former state store.

There’s potential to carve out a pad near Wendy’s to build another fast-food spot, Lubkin said.

Plans for Big Lots remain undetermined, based on the company’s announcement in December that it potentially will close its 900 locations.

“We had an arrangement to keep them in place, but when the bankruptcy was announced, all bets were off,” Lubkin said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed, but we just don’t know.”

Unlike indoor shopping malls, which have dwindled from 2,500 in the 1980s to just 700 large malls nationwide in 2022, strip malls are seeing a resurgence, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Their website data shows more than 68,000 strip malls across the country and a rise in use because of convenience.

Hybrid work schedules have put more people at home post-pandemic, which means more trips to the local shopping center in their towns, experts said. Strip mall stores are small enough to get in and get out more quickly than driving to an indoor mall.

It wasn’t that long ago that Heights Plaza drew people from across the Alle-Kiski Valley.

The plaza boasted 52 stores by the mid-1980s, including Joseph Horne, G.C. Murphy, A&P Supermarket, Isaly’s and a Howard Johnson’s restaurant.

Lower Burrell author George Guido said it mimicked the commercial success of its counterparts, such as Northway Mall in Ross and the Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Monroeville.

Local historian Ray Rieser said it was a big deal at the time.

“We had a bookstore, a record store and a hobby store,” he said. “The kids that I went to school with worked at the bowling alley or they were car hops at Eat’n Park.

“It was considered like a mini trip to Pittsburgh for many people.”

Rieser said the plaza was a social hub that spurred economic development across the township. People would come to shop and then eat at local spots, he said.

“It was really important to the area,” Rieser said.

When the Pittsburgh Mills indoor mall opened in Frazer in 2005, it lured retailers and spending dollars.

“Then the internet had an enormous impact,” Lubkin said. “The plaza was somewhat obsolete in its format.”

Lubkin said a string of owners in recent decades have struggled with redevelopment.

“In its current format, it’s still a challenged property, but there are elements of positivity,” he said.

UPMC and AHN have thriving offices, he said. A pillared sign at the entrance was rebuilt last year to showcase the anchor properties. It sits where there were once colored fountains and a large clock.

A second sign is planned but will depend on the redevelopment of the northern tier.

The center strip that houses the post office, Plaza Laundry and Harvest Moon Coffee and Chocolates is performing well, Lubkin said. Negotiations are underway for another tenant on the far end adjacent to PNC Bank.

Also in that section is the new Social Security Administration office, which moved from New Kensington last year after operating 40 years along Fifth Avenue. It opened inside the former CVS, which was outfitted for the government office.

The facade was updated and the parking lot repaved.

“It’s an important community amenity,” Lubkin said. “All the basic elements are at the plaza — you have places to meet, buy groceries and get basic services like stamps and banking.

“This is still the community center. We’re hoping these tenants will become the springboard for more.”