Court OKs $5M in financing for Century III Mall

Officials deemed mall uninhabitable

The same week Century III Mall was deemed an “unsafe and uninhabitable structure” by West Mifflin officials, the owners of the struggling mall were granted a financial lifeline by a bankruptcy court.

Chief Judge Carlota Bohm said the mall’s owners, Las Vegas-based Moonbeam Capital Investments, could borrow up to $5 million to ensure it can continue operating during its bankruptcy case and perform “maintenance and repairs reasonably necessary for continuing operations and/or preserving and maximizing the value of its estate,” according to court documents filed Thursday, one day after the borough posted the mall notice.

The mall owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 3 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Western District of Pennsylvania to stave off a looming sheriff’s sale.

Another entity associated with Moonbeam Capital is offering the revolving line of credit. The lender is named as Columbia Place Mall SC LLC, which shares an address with Las Vegasbased Moonbeam. Moonbeam also lists Columbia Place Mall in South Carolina as one of its properties. The line of credit of $5 million will mature on Feb. 1, 2024, and have an interest rate of 3 percent.

Moonbeam Capital could not be reached for comment.

The notice posted by the borough on Feb. 6 temporarily closed the mall until the fire suppression system could be fixed, borough manager Brian Kamauf said. The severe cold that swept the region in the preceding days had caused the pipes to burst.

Todd McDevitt, owner of New Dimension Comics, which hosts the 3 Rivers Comicon in May, said the mall is still closed but repairs to the sprinkler system are underway.

Century III, once one of the Pittsburgh region’s premier malls, boasted 200 stores and restaurants at its peak. Moonbeam Capital, snapped up the property for $10.5 million in 2013.

Over the years, Century III has shed most of its stores. Today, the mall only is anchored by Dick’s Sporting Goods and J.C. Penney.

In recent years, a legal dispute with Sears has dogged the struggling 40year-old mall. When the department store chain told Century III Mall that it planned to close its anchor store in 2014, a question about what would happen to the now-vacant property ended up in court, eventually leading to the stalled sheriff’s sale.

A judge ruled Moonbeam Capital owes Sears about $4.2 million after failing to buy back the department store location when Sears terminated the lease early.