Contagion from a Dead Mall beginning to spread

[TheFugitive]

The retail corridor along Pennsylvania Route 51, just south of Century III Mall,
is starting to see a proliferation of boarded-up retail which is likely a partial
trickle down effect from the giant dead mall that lies just up the hill.  Within a one
block stretch of 51 on the southbound side of the road you see:

• An empty 2-store mini shopping center that used to contain a golf equipment retailer
  and a mattress store.
  
  A shuttered Rite Aid pharmacy (acquired by Walgreens which has a big, new store
  just up the road at the intersection with Lebanon Church Road).
  
  A darkened Steak n' Shake location with a ridiculous banner hanging outside
  inviting potential franchise owners to acquire the location.
  
  A big empty former Kmart store.
  
  An empty restaurant in the Kmart parking lot (was originally a Hoss' Steak and
  Seafood House, has been through several incarnations but is now shuttered).

Although interestingly across the road the Southland Shopping Center appears to
have NO vacancies and is doing quite well.  It's lineup includes brand new Texas
Roadhouse and Fresh Thyme locations.

Retail blight along the Route 51 corridor has long been a big issue locally.
Further to the north in the boroughs of Brentwood and Whitehall a number of
retail properties owned by the Levitske Brothers have been crumbling away for
decades.  Only very slowly have improvements in that area been made after
the Levitske Brothers both passed away and their families quit fighting local
authorities in court on every issue.