Half of Neshaminy Mall To Be Demolished To Make Way For Mixed-Use Project
The new joint owners of the Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem plan to demolish up to half of it to redevelop the site for a mixed-use development.
Paramount Realty and Edgewood Properties jointly purchased the almost 1M SF mall property, Bisnow reported this week. The partnership paid a reported $27.5M to acquire the site from Brookfield Properties, according to an anonymous source cited by the Philadelphia Business Journal.
The buyers’ initial plan calls for a mixed-use development, Paramount principal Maurice Zekaria told the publication. Neshaminy Mall's site could host medical or housing space alongside retail in, Zekaria said.
But at least half of the mall's current site would go.
The new owners plan to keep its highly trafficked 24-screen AMC Theatres location, Boscov’s department store, Barnes & Nobles, and two independent restaurant chain locations, Uno Chicago Grill and On The Border Mexican Grill, on the roster.
Otherwise, the partners plan to tear down up to 500K SF of the mall site remaining on the 108-acre property. Of that remaining property, only about 20% is occupied, Zekaria said.
Separately, Fusion Gyms would take over the 211K SF site formerly inhabited by a Macy’s that closed in 2017 and was sold to Sant Properties in 2020, Bisnow reported at the time.
Paramount and Edgewood launched a similar redevelopment together at the Brunswick Square Mall in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Plan details are scant for the site, which the partnership purchased nearly a year ago.
But neither owner is new to commercial shopping centers. Paramount owns the Home Depot in Bensalem and the Marketplace at Neshaminy, according to PBJ. Edgewood has property available for lease at Towne Place at GSP and five other sites in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
The plans come as shopping malls across the state falter.
Simon Property Group gave up its Philadelphia Mills Mall last week after the property fell into foreclosure. South Jersey's Burlington Center Mall is about to be reborn as a housing development that also includes industrial and retail space by a collage of investors and developers, Bisnow reported last month.
A bill is working through the Pennsylvania Congress that could give developers a 10-year tax abatement to redevelop dilapidated mall properties, but it still remains in limbo.
