Abrams Realty & Development is preparing to tackle its biggest project yet in the Philadelphia metro with the redevelopment of the Exton Square mall into a 74-acre mixed-use town center.

Although the firm officially closed on the purchase of the mall from PREIT last month for a reported $34.2 million, a master plan for the town center already is well underway. The vision is a lifestyle project, a place to live, work and play that has critical mass while still being walkable, cohesive and interconnected.

“It’s a really exciting project,” said Peter Abrams, founder and owner of Abrams Realty & Development, which is also based in the Philadelphia area. “I won't say the word ‘prototype’ because every redevelopment is different, but we believe it’s a model that can be repeated around the country.”

The proposed master plan involves scraping the majority of the roughly 980,000-square-foot mall in Exton, a suburb west of Philadelphia, to make way for the construction of approximately 240 for-sale townhomes, 375 apartments and more than 250,000 square feet of new retail, restaurant and health-and-wellness space. The existing 178,000-square-foot Boscov’s, a regional department store chain, will remain in place, as will an existing parking deck.

Other key elements to the town center, currently dubbed The Walk, include a new Main Street, increased green space and walkability. Developers hope to get site approval from the township this summer and begin demolition early next year.

Redevelopment Opportunity Takes Shape

Abrams Realty & Development has a long track record of ground-up and value-add shopping center development in the Philadelphia area. Since 1990, the company has assembled a portfolio of roughly 20 shopping centers spanning more than 3 million square feet. Seven years ago, the firm acquired Whiteland Towne Center, a 218,132-square-foot-center across the street from Exton Square.

“What we learned through acquiring that center is just how strong the Exton market is and how strong Chester County is in general,” said Abrams. Whiteland Towne Center was a value-add project that had significant vacancy at the time of acquisition. Abrams Realty & Development leased up roughly 35,000 square feet in the center, which is shadow anchored by Kohl’s and Hobby Lobby. “Anytime we had a vacancy, the phone rang, and we were able to fill it very quickly,” he said.

But while Whiteland Towne Center was thriving, it was tough for Abrams Realty & Development not to notice the decline of Exton Square. “We knew that a mall sale at some point would be a possibility,” said Abrams. Still, the thought of tackling a large mall redevelopment seemed to be too daunting a project for the firm, which traditionally has focused on smaller, community shopping center development and redevelopment projects.

Abrams gradually changed his mind, in part because of the firm’s growing list of successes and because ground-up shopping center development was becoming more and more difficult. He also saw the wins others were scoring in redeveloping malls with mixed-use components, and the idea of utilizing residential within a town center project started to take hold as a viable strategy.

Pieces Fall Into Place

The opportunity formalized a year ago when Macy’s announced it would close its Exton Square store. PREIT bought out the rest of the retailer’s lease and began talking to potential developers about a sale.

Another ingredient that strengthened the viability of the project is Chester County’s status as the “hottest” housing market in Philadelphia’s five-county area, noted Abrams. “There was no question that if we were able to put together the right town center, the for-sale-housing part would come together,” he said.

Fortune 500 homebuilder NVR will develop the townhomes, and locally based Berger Communities will develop and own the apartment portion. “We believe the Exton mall redevelopment is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform this retail site into a really dynamic mixed-use community that reflects how people want to live today,” said Berger Communities CEO Dan Berger. As Berger Communities plans amenities for the apartments, it is keeping in mind that the town center’s work and play components also will serve the residents. “We're really excited to be partnering with Peter Abrams, who is a forward thinker and has done an incredible job so far with laying out this development,” added Berger.

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Berger expects the apartments to appeal to a renter-by-choice market, especially people in their mid- to late 20s who appreciate the surrounding development’s amenities and nightlife. “We think there’s plenty of demand for housing. It's a hot spot in this area of Chester County, which is thriving and growing,” said Berger.

Connectivity

A highlight of the master plan is the connectivity and walkability of the town center. “The connectivity of the streets, the parks and the open spaces as one system where everything is interlinked is incredibly important,” said Seth Shapiro, director of urban design and principal at BartonPartners, the urban design and architecture firm working on the master plan.

The hope is that the people who live in the town center won’t be dependent on their cars for everything they do, he said. Pedestrian connections will allow people to walk to the grocery store, restaurants and other retail businesses easily. The design also makes a point to connect to neighboring amenities like Whole Foods, the Chester County Library, the Chester Valley Trail and a local park.

The project will feature street-level retail throughout, and Abrams expects tenancy to include a mix of restaurants, bars or brewpubs with outdoor dining, high-end retail and services businesses and a best-in-class fitness and wellness anchor. “One thing that is good about a shopping center developer spearheading a mixed-use town center project is we are born and bred to understand the retail part,” said Abrams. The leasing strategy’s aim is to create both a strong town center for the people who live there and a destination for the broader community.

The site’s unique topography also has allowed designers to create a tiered amphitheater-type feature in the property’s green space. “The planners have done a really nice job of greening up the property while at the same time honoring the spirit of the town center, which by definition has to be pretty dense,” added Abrams.