The mall opened in 1986. The mall's present anchor tenants include JCPenney to the east, Macy's to the south, and Nordstrom to the northwest with one vacant anchor to the north last occupied by Sears that is yet to be redeveloped. Crate & Barrel and L.L.Bean anchor the lifestyle addition on the southwestern part of the mall property. When the mall was originally built, a Horne's store occupied the present Nordstrom location and a Kaufmann's was in the present Macy's spot. Horne's was the second largest of Pittsburgh's department store chains, and this store had been the anchor of nearby Northway Mall; the two locations coexisted for about a year after the move. Kaufmann's was the third largest of Pittsburgh's chains, and its store moved in from a standalone location about a mile north on McKnight Road. Today, that location houses Giant Eagle, Dunham's Sports, and Stein Mart. The Nordstrom location has a complicated history. It was intended to be a Gimbel's but was never occupied because the Gimbel's chain was sold and liquidated a year after the mall opened, resulting in a vacant anchor at the time. The spot was first opened by Horne's. It operated as Horne's from 1987 to 1994, when Federated Department Stores purchased the Horne's chain and rebranded its stores with its own regional Lazarus name. Service Merchandise closed March 15, 1999, and it replaced with Media Play of the same year in Thanksgiving 1999. The store operated as Lazarus until Federated renamed it as Macy's in March 2005. Four months later, Federated purchased the May Department Stores Company, which operated the Kaufmann's anchor store at the south end of the mall. Now Federated owned two anchors in the same mall, operating under different names. However, Media Play closed in 2006, and it replaced by Forever 21. In March 2006, Nordstrom announced plans to build a new store on the Horne's/Lazarus/Macy's site, after tearing down the building and an adjacent two-level parking structure. May quickly closed the Macy's store and began converting the much larger Kaufmann's to a Macy's. In September 2006, the former Kaufmann's became Macy's, which then renovated the entire store with replacement of flooring and lighting, also relocating the furniture department to the original Horne's furniture gallery located in the parking lot. After a two-year construction period, the Nordstrom store opened on October 24, 2008.
Renovation and expansion
In 2000, Ross Park underwent $14 million in renovations including the construction of a play area for children near JCPenney as well as new lighting, ceilings, entranceways and flooring. Additional renovations were done in 2008 with the mall expansion, incorporating a Nordstrom department store. Some luxury retailers were also added to the mall. A lifestyle addition completed the 2008 expansion. The expansion will contains four or five new tenants, including two eateries, and all stores are accessible from the outside. On January 4, 2018, Sears announced that its store at the mall would be closing as part of a plan to close 103 stores nationwide. The store closed on April 8, 2018, making JCPenney the only original anchor store to remain. One day later, Simon announced plans to redevelop the two story space into a new three story space with a new dining hall, new retailers, restaurants, and entertainment. It's one of the seven malls owned by Simon that will redevelop a former Sears. Construction will start in January 2019 and open during Summer 2020. Some time in 2019, JCPenney downsized their store to only one level pretty much cutting the sales area in half, reducing its inventory. This leaves only the first floor open. It is unclear what the future of the upper level space will become, JCPenney may still be using the upper level for some storage and some other things.
