On March 18, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) sold the Exton Square Mall, constructed in 1973, to Abrams Realty and Development for $34 million. Abrams plans to redevelop the mall into a town center with apartments, townhouses and retail. Heather Crowell, executive vice president of investor relations at Gregory FCA, a public relations firm that represents both Abrams and PREIT, believes the developer can turn the mall into a town center.
“The plan is to develop a town center, and that will include tearing down the vast majority of (the stores),” Crowell said. “The idea is to kind of reorient it as a mix of uses, so a main street style, with retail on the bottom and apartments on top.”
The town center will include outdoor retail stores, office space, a daycare, entertainment, fitness facilities and the existing Main Line Health facility and Boscov’s store. Abrams plans to build 376 apartments and 243 townhouses, and the community will feature a drivable “main street” with water features and grass.
“This is not just a redevelopment — it’s the realization of a true town center, designed to enhance quality of life while delivering economic and social benefits to the community. Our approach will ensure a seamless blend of living, wellness, working and gathering spaces,” Peter Abrams, CEO of Abrams Realty, said in a PREIT press release.
Over the past 10 years, the mall experienced a decline in retail tenants and sales. According to the 2022 PREIT annual report, the mall had only a 53% occupancy rate, causing PREIT to reevaluate the viability of the mall following the company’s second bankruptcy. The company ultimately decided to sell the mall.
Capital One Shopping projects that 87% of large shopping malls may close over the next 10 years and states that millennials spend 17.1% less time on retail than Generation X. Along with these factors, Crowell believes that the mall’s decline is partially due to the abundance of other retail destinations in the area, such as the King of Prussia Mall.
“There’s only room for one major retail destination to serve a certain number of people,” Crowell said. “It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, where King of Prussia (Mall) keeps getting better because the stores want to be there because that’s where the customers are, and so when the stores close in a mall like Exton, there are fewer shoppers and then more stores close.”
Despite the past decline of the Exton Mall, Crowell feels that it has a promising future as a town center.
“Do we have the money and do we have the right returns for the amount of risk we’re taking on? And (PREIT) had concluded that for them, it just wasn’t the right time to take on such a massive redevelopment,” Crowell said. “As the owner of the mall, you know that it doesn’t have a future as a mall, but there’s an opportunity, because it’s really good real estate.”
Nolan Talley can be reached at [email protected].
