Sep 25, 2014 2 min read

Businesses keep opening, leases continue to get signed, and the courtship process keeps going at Old Mill.

“We are 80 percent leased with the small shops,” said Sam Adler, leasing agent for The Staenberg Group, owner of the project off Route 19 in South Strabane Township.

Field & Stream, Buffalo Wild Wings, Halloween Dreams to Screams and Valley Pool & Spa opened within the past three weeks, and Hobby Lobby will open Oct. 6 near Field & Stream. Parry Custom Homes, based in North Huntingdon, Westmoreland County, leased space for a showroom next to Valley Pool.

Construction, meanwhile, is continuing on several other businesses in Phase I of the 104-acre project.

Work will begin soon for two other firms that approved leases: Yes Yogurt and Sun Club.

Sun, a tanning salon, has but one current location, in Bridgeville. An employee there said a 2015 opening is anticipated at Old Mill.

Adler said Wednesday afternoon TSG is formulating plans for Phase II, on the back end of Old Mill near Berry Road.

“We have seven to nine acres for possible residential, nedical or office use,” he explained, adding retail will not be in that mix.

An access road off Berry, leading to the project, opened recently. Concrete barriers were blocking the access, a holdover from the Foundry development that went bust in 2007.

Eventually, TSG also plans to develop the northern part of the site, where J.C. Penney and two other buildings were left over from the Foundry. Those structures were razed about a year ago.

“We have a plethora of national retail businesses interested in that area,” Adler said, “and we have an interest in having a bigger client, an anchor store.”

He projected openings there for late 2015 or in 2016.

Adler said TSG “is absolutely pleased” with what transpired at Old Mill, and that store openings have engendered “nothing but positive feedback.”