[3] John Redick created an initial town plan for Allegheny City- which featured 36 city blocks surrounded by a common grazing area - the following year.

As one example of the trend, the landmark Boggs & Buhl department store, which had done a thriving business among Allegheny City's wealthy residents, steadily lost money after 1931 and was closed in 1958.

The entire Allegheny Redevelopment Area encompasses approximately 79 acres (320,000 m2) on the North Side, about a half-mile from downtown Pittsburgh.

The mall, opened in 1965 and anchored by Sears, F. W. Woolworth Company, and Zayre, had some initial success, but it did not revive the business fortunes of Allegheny City, which continued to decline after Interstate 279 allowed area residents to drive to the northern suburbs to shop.

the 36-block area initially planned by John Redick consists of the Allegheny Center Mall - now Nova Place, which contains 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space in the old mall concourse, plus two of the office towers, restaurants, including Federal Galley, a fitness center, and Alloy 26, Pittsburgh's largest coworking space, which is located in the concourse[9] - and several public structures including the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.