Washington Crown Center was an enclosed regional shopping mall in North Franklin Township, PA. It stood along West Chestnut Street, just outside the city of Washington, on the edge of southwestern Pennsylvania.
For many years, it was the main place to shop for people in Washington County and nearby areas. Shoppers came to one indoor complex that included major anchor stores, smaller specialty shops, and a food court.
The mall first opened in 1969 as Franklin Mall, one of the county's enclosed regional malls at the time. It dominated large-scale retail in the area for decades.
Over time, anchor stores left, maintenance was put off, and the property was eventually sold in 2025, beginning its transition away from its role as an indoor shopping center.
Franklin Mall Opens in 1969
On a stretch of West Chestnut Street in North Franklin Township, Pennsylvania, a new mall opened in 1969 with three anchors and a name that had nothing to do with royalty: Franklin Mall.
Troutman's department store anchored one end, Sears anchored another, and Grant City filled the third slot. An Acme supermarket sat in the parking lot just outside.
For a county that had gotten its first enclosed regional mall only the year before, it was a significant arrival, a place people drove to from across Washington County and beyond to do everything in one trip.
The parking lot was wide and flat. The stores were practical. Grant City carried the kind of stock - appliances, clothing, housewares - that made it a destination on its own.
Sears was Sears. Troutman's was a regional department store with a loyal customer base.
The combination worked well enough that Franklin Mall settled into the routine of a functioning community hub for the better part of a decade before any of that started to change.
Grant City converted to Hills in 1976. The Acme in the parking lot closed in 1977. Troutman's lasted until 1984, when it closed and became Pomeroy's.
Three years later, in 1987, Pomeroy's converted again, this time into The Bon-Ton.
The 1985 Expansion of Franklin Mall
In 1985, Crown American expanded Franklin Mall and changed what it was. Hess's and a second Hills store were added. The original Hills location was repurposed into a food court and extra retail space.
From that point on, the mall was large and complex enough that visitors needed a map to get around.
Earlier, the mall had been simple.
Three anchor stores. An easy layout. It mainly served nearby shoppers. After the expansion, it became a regional enclosed mall with four anchors, a food court, and a longer walk across the property.
A place where people could spend hours. That increase in size shaped what came next.
More space meant more tenants were needed, along with higher foot traffic and regular updates to keep the property competitive.
Franklin Mall moved into the 1990s with those pressures in place. The Bon-Ton filled the space once used by Troutman's, and Sears remained where it had always been.
Washington Crown Center: The 1999 Rebrand
In 1999, the property was redeveloped and renamed Washington Crown Center. The name change came with real construction.
The former Hess's space became a movie theater. Hills converted to Ames. Kaufmann's was added as a fourth anchor.
The mall that opened that year had a multiplex cinema and a department store that hadn't been there a year before. Ames lasted three years.
It closed in 2002 and was replaced by Gander Mountain in 2003. Kaufmann's converted to Macy's in 2006.
That same year, PREIT - Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust - was running the property after acquiring it in 2003 through its merger with Crown American Realty Trust.
Washington Crown Center covered 669,000 square feet total in 2003, with in-line occupancy at 82.9 percent and in-line sales of $235 per square foot.
The anchors at that moment were Sears, Bon-Ton, Hollywood Theaters, and Kaufmann's. The mall was 34 years old and had just changed hands as part of a corporate merger.
The PREIT Years: Larger-Format Tenants and the Decision to Sell
PREIT spent its time at Washington Crown Center moving the tenant mix away from small specialty shops and toward bigger-format stores.
Marshalls replaced Old Navy in 2013. Ross Dress for Less took 25,000 square feet of former specialty space in 2014.
Jo-Ann Fabrics, Ulta, and Books-A-Million all came in during the same period.
By January 2015, PREIT had decided that the Washington Crown Center was a property to sell.
The company announced a plan to dispose of lower-productivity malls, and Washington Crown Center was on the list. A sale agreement was in place by July 18, 2016.
At that point, PREIT reported the mall was generating $318 per square foot in sales with non-anchor occupancy at 87.9 percent.
In June 2016, PREIT recorded a $14.1 million impairment on the property.
Estimated undiscounted cash flows, net of capital expenditures, were below carrying value. The sale closed on August 16, 2016. The buyer was Kohan Retail Investment Group.
The price was $20.0 million. PREIT reported non-anchor occupancy at 87.4 percent and sales of $313 per square foot on the day it announced the deal was done.
The Kohan Years: Anchors Leave
In January 2017, Macy's announced that its Washington Crown Center store would close before the end of the year.
The location had opened in 1999 and employed 67 people when the announcement was made. A month later, in February 2017, Gander Mountain put up "store closing" signs.
By 2018, Rural King had taken over that space, and several smaller specialty shops moved in, including Chippers Trains and Collectibles, Dress Haute, Stone Haven Creamery, Hog Father's BBQ, and Ohio Valley Reptiles.
In August 2019, Sears, the last of the three original anchors from 1969, announced it would close.
Liquidation began in mid-September, and the store shut down by mid-December. The movie theater did not last through the pandemic.
Regal Crown Cinema was listed as permanently closed in a local radio report in October 2020 and never reopened.
At the time of the mall's 50th anniversary in 2019, more than 65 stores were still operating inside. At its busiest point, the total had reached nearly 70.
In 2022, the mall's ownership pursued a tax assessment dispute. The mall's ownership argued that the property's value should be reduced from about $4 million to $2.5 million.
700 Citations and a Property in Disrepair
From early 2024 through May 2025, North Franklin Township issued more than 700 code enforcement citations to Washington Crown Center.
The list of problems was long. Unsafe conditions inside. Exterior wall damage. Roofs that leaked.
The former Bon-Ton building was in especially bad shape because of an ongoing roof leak. The closed movie theater had been vandalized.
In April 2024, a water main break shut down the entire mall for three days, and the township sought $15,000 in damages. Citations came almost every day.
The goal was to push the owners to fix the property or agree to sell it.
By spring 2025, a possible buyer had appeared, and a hearing covering hundreds of violations was postponed because a sale seemed likely.
By then, only about 20 businesses were still operating.
Crown Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram had opened in the former Sears building in April 2023 after about 10 months of construction and employed 40 people.
Ollie's Bargain Outlet opened on October 18, 2023, adding 50 to 60 jobs.
The Sale to PREP and IRG and the End of the Enclosed Mall
PREP Funds publicly outlined its plans at a June 10, 2025, township hearing: a mixed-use project combining retail on the east side of the property with a business park on the west side.
The enclosed mall format would go away. The estimated redevelopment cost was about $35 million.
On June 25, 2025, North Franklin Township supervisors approved zoning changes creating a light industrial redevelopment overlay district.
The sale closed in September 2025. PREP Funds acquired the property in a joint venture with Industrial Realty Group and renamed it Franklin Crossroads Park.
The new footprint covered roughly 434,000 to 450,000 square feet - smaller than the historic mall figure because the sale did not include Crown Chrysler, Rural King, or M&C Discount, all of which had been subdivided off.
Redevelopment work began almost immediately after closing. The sale price was $5.25 million, down from the $20.0 million Kohan had paid in 2016.
Franklin Crossroads Park Takes Shape After the 2025 Sale
By March 2026, interior demolition was well underway. The building closed to mall walkers on March 30.
Four businesses remained operating inside during construction: Kandy Nails, The Toffee House, King's Jewelry, and Cheer Haven All Stars.
The east side of the site was being rebuilt as a 100,000-square-foot retail center; the west side was becoming 350,000 square feet of business-park space.
In January 2026, North Franklin Chestnut LLC received $650,000 in state funding to repave the outer ring road at the redevelopment site.
IRG and PREP said the first retail tenants were expected in early 2026, with business-park tenants to follow in late spring or early summer.
The total announced redevelopment investment is $40 million.
Notable Milestones
1969 - Opened as Franklin Mall with Troutman's, Sears, and Grant City as anchor stores
1976 - Grant City became Hills
1985 - Major expansion added Hess's and a new Hills; the original Hills space became a food court and retail area
1987 - Pomeroy's became The Bon-Ton
1999 - Redeveloped and renamed Washington Crown Center; added a movie theater and Kaufmann's
2003 - Gander Mountain replaced Ames; PREIT acquired the mall through its Crown American merger
2006 - Kaufmann's became Macy's
2016 - PREIT sold Washington Crown Center to Kohan Retail Investment Group for $20 million
2017 - Macy's announced it would close at the mall
2018 - Rural King opened in the former Gander Mountain space
December 2019 - Sears, the last original anchor, closed
2020 - Regal Crown Cinema closed and did not reopen
April 1, 2023 - Crown Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram opened in the former Sears building
October 18, 2023 - Ollie's Bargain Outlet opened at the mall
May 15, 2025 - North Franklin Township said it had filed more than 700 citations over unsafe conditions at the property
June 2025 - PREP presented a redevelopment plan and township officials approved zoning changes for reuse of the site
September 2025 - The property was sold to PREP Funds and Industrial Realty Group and renamed Franklin Crossroads Park
March 2026 - Demolition and redevelopment were actively underway, with the former mall closing to walkers during construction