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What's a bit concerning is:
"We were unofficially informed that one of the anchors plans to close their store and believe it was an opportune time to . . . execute on this sale."
I believe it will most likely be Macy's as it has disclosed plan to close 40 stores nationwide. It's closing it's store in Owings Mills Mall in Maryland, another mall which dwindled down to just two department stores.
The Cherry Hill, Moorestown and Deptford stores triangulate the area.
It could be Boscov's though. In either event, it will be hard to fill the vacant anchor. I don't think JCPenney or Sears would return with sites in Deptford. Target is already on White Horse Road. The Macy's anchor is too large also and would need to be torn down probably for any redevelopment.
The other possibility is it gets torn down for a hotel, condo or more luxury apartment residences. Or maybe a mix of more residential but with Whole Foods or Wegmans.
The whole project seemed very half-hearted to me. IF you're going to make a town center, make it very dense, with many apartments, structured parking, pedestrian amenities, and a mix of commercial and retail too. Voorhees Town Center seems like it's still just a mediocre mall with some apartments adjacent. Still a better attempt at executing a mixed-use center than the Garden State Mall in Cherry Hill though.
The whole project seemed very half-hearted to me. IF you're going to make a town center, make it very dense, with many apartments, structured parking, pedestrian amenities, and a mix of commercial and retail too. Voorhees Town Center seems like it's still just a mediocre mall with some apartments adjacent. Still a better attempt at executing a mixed-use center than the Garden State Mall in Cherry Hill though.
I disagree, and feel it was redesigned well. There are a lot of apartments that were built. There are also many apartments in the Echelon area overall, and putting in too much capacity in the area at once could result in vacancy problems. Also, it's supposed to be luxury apartments, and making it too dense and crowded would achieve the opposite type of ambience.
There is an outside retail area with many restaurants (Yogurtland, Burger 21, Elena Wu, Iron Hill Brewery, Brazilian Steakhouse) There is Bikram Yoga. For the space, it seemed like it was done well with a lot of amenities.
Their website is indicating that Friendly's will open in this area also. Friendly's just closed their off parcel site near the Carmike Cinemas, so it's strange to see them coming back to the area in another site.
The new owners might be willing to put in more mom&pop stores in the inside of the mall, where PREIT would rather not want too many of them.
The big white elephant will the empty anchor building however and how long it will take to redevelop that if it ever does get redeveloped. It'd be great if the new owners could attract a Whole Foods or Wegmans in Voorhees Town Center, but the location isn't very highway visible. But people will drive to get to these stores too.
The former Genuardi's in Voorhees is also vacant, but it is now owned by Acme's parent owners who might not want to sublease that site to a grocer that competes with Acme which is in the same area. An Acme will compete against a Whole Foods in meats and produce, even if it doesn't directly compete against it for most on the shelf products.
But the mall (dependent on the new owners) might be more welcoming to court Whole Foods or Wegmans.
What's done half-hearted is the Moorestown Mall renovation. PREIT has put in new flooring in just the foodcourt, but isn't putting it throughout the mall. I'm not sure if PREIT has in the back of it's mind to make it part enclosed/part outdoor mall, or it's just being cheap.
Last edited by marltonguy; 10-29-2015 at 09:59 AM..
I don't agree, and feel it was redesigned well. There are a lot of apartments that were built. There are also many apartments in the Echelon area as well, and putting in too much capacity in the area at once could result in vacancy problems. Also, it's supposed to be luxury apartments, and making it too dense and crowded.
There is an outside retail area with many restaurants (Yogurtland, Burger 21, Elena Wu, Iron Hill Brewery, Brazilian Steakhouse) There is Bikram Yoga. For the space, it seemed like it was done well with a lot of amenities.
Their website is indicating that Friendly's will open in this area also. Friendly's just closed their off parcel site near the Carmike Cinemas, so it's strange to see them coming back to the area in another site.
The new owners might be willing to put in more mom&pop stores in the inside of the mall, where PREIT would rather not want too many of them.
The big white elephant will the empty anchor building however and how long it will take to redevelop that if it ever does get redeveloped. It'd be great if the new owners could attract a Whole Foods or Wegmans in Voorhees Town Center, but the location isn't very highway visible. But people will drive to get to these stores too.
The former Genuardi's in Voorhees is also vacant, but it is now owned by Acme's parent owners who might not want to sublease that site to a grocer that competes with Acme which is in the same area. An Acme will compete against a Whole Foods in meats and produce, even if it doesn't directly compete against it for most on the shelf products.
But the mall (dependent on the new owners) might be more welcoming to court Whole Foods or Wegmans.
Isn't the point of a town center that it's supposed to be dense? Too few people and too little foot traffic can kill retail in a pedestrian area. Malls are in decline in many regions, South Jersey in particular (see the Burlington Mall...). Adding a Wegman's isn't going fix the problem; people's long-term habits towards living and shopping are changing and won't support as many malls in the future.
Isn't the point of a town center that it's supposed to be dense? Too few people and too little foot traffic can kill retail in a pedestrian area. Malls are in decline in many regions, South Jersey in particular (see the Burlington Mall...). Adding a Wegman's isn't going fix the problem; people's long-term habits towards living and shopping are changing and won't support as many malls in the future.
I don't feel that more apartment units or dwellers in the Echelon area, or the mall itself, would have saved Macy's there. Retail foot traffic needs to come from the greater region not just the apartment dwellers nearby. And, I still disagree that the redesign of the mall was done half-hearted.
You are neglecting all the restaurants that were added, that I listed above. That exists solely because of the redesign of the mall.
Macy's has it's own issues: it has three other stores that surround Voorhees, online shopping, and its pricing not being attractive. Even it's Moorestown store might be struggling. It has a huge parking lot and it's usually mostly empty.
But, it could be Boscov's that closes and I'd be more surprised if so.
The "mall" portion of VTC has been dead for about 12 years now or so. They tried to rebrand it with a lifestyle center image, and it has not worked. It seems that the outdoors portion of VTC does okay. I have been there a few times, and the restaurants seem to do well. I don't know how high the occupancy is in the apartments though. I sure as hell would not live there. The mall is a different story. Even after the relaunch, it is not attracted new tenants. Vacancies still run VERY high. Part of this is location for sure: yes, its competitors are all along major highways and easily accessible, whether it be Cherry Hill, Moorestown, Deptford, or even the Promenade in Marlton. The Voorhees location is just simply logistically horrible for a mall.
Honestly, the best and only bet that can be made to save the area would be to completely demolish the mall because it's just sad as hell. It used to be quite good for a while, but shortly after the turn of the millennium, it went down quickly. Maybe they expand the outdoors part though and get local businesses in. That's pretty much the last play. A supermarket would be nice and might then actually convince more people to actually live there. Seriously, how do they get off charging up to $2K a month when there really is not all of the available resources around to make it liveable? Within the center there are only so many businesses that if they were thinking they could make a compelling case for it being a walkable place to live where you have so many options for shopping/dining/entertainment at your disposal, they were sadly mistaken. It's not that close to the PATCO Line either.
Whatever they decide to do, I feel like there is no hope for this place. Any course of action is doomed to fail. As it stands now, barring the actual dead mall, the newer portion of VTC is really just a glorified strip mall with apartments put on top and a parking lot that is way too large for its current demand. It's not a true Town Center or a Downtown, and people are smart enough to see that. Maybe people will continue to go to the restaurants on occasion, but it's never going to be a regular destination for people to go "hang out" or a hot spot to actually live in, like they obviously envisioned it to be...not with better malls, The Promenade, and downtowns like Haddonfield and Collingswood all close by. Hell, I would rather make the drive out to Hammonton than spend the day at the VTC...aside from the restaurants, you can do the whole thing in one hour or less. Very limited retail. It really is just a glorified strip mall...like Voorhees actually needed another one.
And don't count on Wegman's or Whole Foods coming to Voorhees...not when they already have locations in Cherry Hill, as well as Mt. Laurel for Wegman's and Marlton for Whole Foods. And in case you were not aware, Whole Foods is in a world of hurt and spiraling down very quickly. Don't expect them to open new stores ANYWHERE, much less in Voorhees.
Voorhees is an upper middle class town. People have money and are willing to spend it at a destination if it's done properly (if they were smart, they would have built a traditional downtown around the Ashland PATCO station along Burnt Mill Road). However, it's NEVER been done properly, and there is a precedent to this, by the way. It's happened before. Voorhees Town Center will become the new Main Street.
I believe PREIT just stated in the quarterly earnings they were looking to sell off a few uburban properties to raise cash for new city development pending
That said the fall of Dept stores is nothing new. Malls need to reinvent themselves and only a few are remaining strong and seem to be regional anchor malls (KOP, CH etc.)
Macys is struggling today as they are sort of the middle price point which is weakening, lower cost and higher end segments are remaining stronger
The "mall" portion of VTC has been dead for about 12 years now or so. They tried to rebrand it with a lifestyle center image, and it has not worked. It seems that the outdoors portion of VTC does okay. I have been there a few times, and the restaurants seem to do well. I don't know how high the occupancy is in the apartments though. I sure as hell would not live there. The mall is a different story. Even after the relaunch, it is not attracted new tenants. Vacancies still run VERY high. Part of this is location for sure: yes, its competitors are all along major highways and easily accessible, whether it be Cherry Hill, Moorestown, Deptford, or even the Promenade in Marlton. The Voorhees location is just simply logistically horrible for a mall.
Agreed. PREIT inherited the mall when it bought several malls, however. It was the challenged one in the mix.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leps12
Honestly, the best and only bet that can be made to save the area would be to completely demolish the mall because it's just sad as hell.
Disagree here. If Boscov's is doing fine making sales, and employing people, attracting customers - no need to demolish it. Also no need to demolish the brand new restaurant sites and apartments that were just built, or the outdoor off parcels. All these establishments have leases that protect them as well.
Pretty much, the solution would be to demolish the dead part, which I presume will be centered around the Macy's building. The foodcourt seems to be doing well. I'd be quite surprised if they demolished the enclosed center of the mall which is weak, nonetheless. They plan on building offices upstairs. The new management might try to fill the mall better but with mom&pop stores.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leps12
And don't count on Wegman's or Whole Foods coming to Voorhees...not when they already have locations in Cherry Hill, as well as Mt. Laurel for Wegman's and Marlton for Whole Foods. And in case you were not aware, Whole Foods is in a world of hurt and spiraling down very quickly. Don't expect them to open new stores ANYWHERE, much less in Voorhees.
The Cherry Hill and Marlton locations are over 20 minutes away. Mt. Laurel is totally far away from Voorhees. I think Whole Foods has hit some bumps, but they are opening new stores (e.g. Exton PA at a former Kmart site at PREIT's Exton Mall). It might not happen but a Whole Foods with maybe a CVS (providing a pharmacy), or just a Wegmans, could be very useful amenities in the area.
Or they just tear Macy's down and build more apartments!
Made some edits in my post to add a little more and clear things up.
Anyway, I really wouldn't count on another Whole Foods. No way. The Cherry Hill store may end up closing. I know someone who works there, and they are already downsizing and letting positions go.
As I clarified in my edit, Voorhees is not a terrible place. It's solidly upper middle class. But there will be no Whole Foods there, nor a Wegman's (although I would pin that as more likely). Again, location is key, at least in particular for the VTC site. Wegman's sets up, like successful malls do, along major highways.
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