Largest Abandoned Mall in the World - Century III Mall - A Documentary *Demolished*

When it opened in 1979, Century III was the third largest mall in the entire world. It would appear in several films and TV shows before closing in 2019 and demolished in 2024.

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Music Miami 1983 by Karl Casey @WhiteBatAudio

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#abandoned #deadmall #retailarchaeology #urbanexploration

[dropautoparts]

Need to add the Century 3 Chevrolet jingle. “Century 3 Chevrolet, Lebanon Church Rd, Pittsburgh… minutes from the mall”. Every Pittsburgher will remember it.

[MrRMB]

That was my mall growing up just down the road. It was wonderfull throughout the 80's. Met my wife of now 35 years there at Wilsons Leather and Suede back in 84, right out of high school. Sorry to see that the demo is underway. Gread video, thanks for taking the time to put it together.

[MrHeadbanger]

Century III is in the news more now than when it was open. Sad.

[TheSkittlesmcgee]

The thing that's absolutely *terrible* about this mall is the ONLY connector road in between Clairton Rd and Clairton Blvd is the Century III access road that runs alongside the site. As far as I can tell it's a part of the property and hasn't seen any service in YEARS. It is absolutely a suspension breaker nowadays. Unfortunately you have to go WELL out of your way to avoid it.

[HondaWagovan]

I really miss the malls of this design and style, I usually as a kid couldn't stand shopping trips for hours but interesting malls like this were an exception where I could walk for hours.

[key]

Great narration, with intermittent music and transitions to historical photography and back in the day news casts. 👍🏼

[Roger-vzol]

Sadly, violence and crime have destroyed so many places and it has only become worse as time goes on.

[sonnie]

Typical extravagant waste that takes place in America. It was too big and clearly not maintained with a lack of diversification to maintain it as being a hub. South Africa Johannesburg was very clever with malls. They all had financial and banking, hotels, medical suites, and office towers. This meant you never had to leave it was literally one stop shop and still is. They also added residential apartments and gated townhouses to some to ensure their survival. America has always had this strange habit of building disconnected places where you literally need to drive to the next store or even the same building because that's quicker than walking.

[TheBigdog]

All these malls were opening and brand new when i was a kid. Now they're gone, and I'm still here, a little worse for wear, but still looking much better than they are! 😂

[josephikrakowski]

I have so many memories of this mall from going with my grandparents in the 2000s. Definitely a sad state it’s been left in

[kcindc]

As a Pittsburgh resident in 1979 (which was the year both the Steelers and the Pirates won their respective championships), Century III was a huge deal. It was a great mall, if a little inconvenient from where we lived out by the airport). Sad to see it such decay.

[michaelmartin]

As someone who worked at malls from 1975 to 2009 it's really sad how quickly many malls just rot away. Along with so many of the mall stores. Dangerous to walk around them. I've personally visited many dead malls in Texas, Florida and the Carolina's.

[DrummerPainterDogNutPGH]

I moved from Pittsburgh in the summer of 1979, the Century Three Mall was still under construction at that point. I came back to Pittsburgh in 1991 and at one point worked nearby. It was still a thriving mall in the early nineties, and I shopped there pretty often during that period. I moved out of the area again for work in 2003, the mall had declined quite a bit by then, although it was still pretty busy at Christmas time. I retired and moved back into the area in 2010. I think that I visited it once or twice to buy Craftsman tools at Sears. It was in sad shape by then. I wasn't surprised that it closed, I was more surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

[Harvey_Pekar]

I seriously need to build a time machine.

[kjquinn]

I remember the ads for Century III from visits to my parents in Pittsburgh back in the late 1970's and 1980's. They lived on the North Side, so Century III was too far of a trip for them, especially since all the same stores could be found in the North Hills. Still, if you were in Pittsburgh at the time, Century III was hard to forget.

[schallrd]

The mall was awesome in it's day. Nobody would have imagined that it wound up as it did.

[reynabryer]

8:51 if I remember correctly it was an Italian village pizza shop before closing

[TheCubeTube]

Great video! Thank you for being respectful, unlike so many other people. Century III will be missed, but it’s definitely time to let it go.

[budad]

these malls are the closest thing to a time machine for me, I love dated malls, I used to make jokes about "run down malls" but often the ones still in business have some of the best businesses around...or the worst, but the ones I go to are awesome

[luicalibre]

Spent most of my high school years there in the early 80’s. Left for the military then went back there while home for leave in the 90’s and was shocked with how bad it was and how much was gone. Now, living near Columbus, OH, the same thing is happening here. Tanger and Polaris are all that’s left and that ain’t saying much.