Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Exton Square Mall, the nearly 1 million-square-foot shopping plaza that now has just a handful of stores, is the subject of a lawsuit as developers and officials spar over its future. Elkins Park-based Abrams Realty & Development wants to build hundreds of townhouses, rental apartments, a 55+ community, and a town center with retail, restaurants, medical offices, and green space on the 75-acre property. But West Whiteland Township Supervisors Brian Dunn and Rajesh Kumbhardare last month rejected the project over sewer, traffic, and density concerns, disregarding the planning commission’s earlier recommendation. On Wednesday, Abrams sued the supervisors in an attempt to force the plan’s approval, saying it meets the township’s zoning requirements. “It’s completely ridiculous to look at a dead mall and say that should be the standard,” CEO Peter Abrams said Thursday in an interview, calling the project “the best option for this property, all things considered.” Abrams said the supervisors had no grounds for rejecting his proposal, as they aren’t responsible for regulating sewer capacity at this point in the process. As for congestion concerns, he said the project would result in a fraction of the traffic that a functioning mall would produce. Supervisors Dunn and Kumbhardare said they were voting in the best interest of residents, who would ultimately have to pay for the required sewer upgrades and deal with additional traffic in an already-crowded area. The density could also strain emergency services, the supervisors said, and stress local schools. “No one wants to see the mall in the condition it is in right now,” said Kumbhardare, the board chair. “But at the same time, we don’t want to create a monster.” Both Kumbhardare and Dunn said they would be open to a smaller residential development that meets the lower-density zoning requirements that went into effect just days after Abrams submitted its plan. Before the lawsuit was filed, township officials said Abrams could make changes to the proposal and resubmit it, restarting the approval process. Abrams said he was unsatisfied with that option. “We have bent over backward for six to eight months, addressing concerns, and making changes and modifications,” said Abrams, whose company bought the mall from PREIT in March for more than $34 million. “It is really an amazing plan and a one-of a-kind project for the area.” » READ MORE: A ‘dead’ South Jersey mall is set to get townhomes, retail, and more in long-awaited redevelopment For five years, Victoria Donnelly McCue has lived in a neighborhood across the street from the defunct mall. She was “thrilled” last month to hear that a developer’s latest plan was rejected, she said. “I have no issues with development. Obviously, it needs some life,” said McCue, 57, who works in construction. But she isn’t convinced the area needs more housing. “I would have rather had Main Line Health get larger, have more services for people in the area, because obviously we’re lacking in hospital facilities,” she said, especially given recent closures. Dunn and Kumbhardare said similar concerns were echoed in the hundreds of emails they’ve received since this latest mall plan was proposed. Many expressed frustration with the scale and speed of recent development. The supervisors see it, too, calling traffic in the area “a nightmare.” Dunn described Exton in a word: Overbuilt. Once full of farmlands and woods, Exton has become “a thriving commercial center,” as the township touts on its website. Exton Square Mall opened in 1973 to much local fanfare, with Strawbridge’s as its anchor and more than 100 stores surrounding it. More than two decades later, after businesspeople successfully lobbied for the construction of the Exton Bypass, the town became easier to access from eastern suburbs. More commercial development, including an expansion of the Exton Square Mall, followed. Main Street at Exton, one of the state’s first town-center developments, was built in the early 2000s on a former farmstead near the intersection of Routes 100 and 30, less than a mile from the mall. With nearly 800,000 square feet of commercial space, the complex is home to more than 40 restaurants and retail stores, including Walmart, Lidl, Barnes & Noble, and Movie Tavern. It is now one of several large shopping centers in the 13-square-mile township. Residential development has also exploded in the area amid rising demand from millennials and baby boomers for high-end, low-maintenance living. Just in the past five years, nearly 3,000 luxury apartments and townhouses have been built in West Whiteland Township, Kumbhardare said. And so far, the supervisor added, supply has met demand: Each complex is at least 90% occupied. With all the new housing, he said, officials estimate the township’s current population is between 22,000 and 23,000, a more than 20% increase since 2010. The township is set to get its first 55+ community when Toll Brothers breaks ground on a 317-unit complex on 100 acres near the Church Farm School. It is the largest development approved in the township since 2020. “The community will include both townhomes and single-family homes in a resort-style neighborhood with on-site amenities,” John Dean, Toll Brothers’ division president for Pennsylvania, said Friday in a statement. The Fort Washington-based luxury homebuilder bought the property for $70 million last month, according to Chester County property records, but the project has been in the works since 2018, said Kumbhardare, who was on the planning commission then. For years, the developers talked with the township about what would be best for the property, the supervisor said. Still, Kumbhardare added, a 55+ community comes with challenges: Retired residents don’t contribute earned income tax, and complexes full of older adults tend to put extra stress on EMS services. The way Abrams sees it, the old Exton mall needs to be redeveloped one way or another, and he believes his vision is the best. “It’s a very vibrant, mixed-use town center which will create a gathering place for the community, [with] dramatic public spaces, restaurants, wellness,” Abrams said. It will be “the envy of communities around the country that happen to have dead commercial properties that need to be reinvented.” » READ MORE: Why Philly-area shoppers are mourning Neshaminy Mall’s glory days on TikTok Under his current plan, Abrams would demolish the entire mall aside from the Boscov’s and the Round1 bowling and arcade complex, which is in the former JCPenney’s. The developers would then build 172 townhouses, 381 apartments, and 165 “age-restricted active adult apartments,” along with nearly 170,000 square feet of shops, restaurants, and other commercial space and 120,000 square feet of fitness and entertainment venues. The existing Main Line Health facility would be moved to a larger building on the site. The center would also include offices and a daycare. The new complex would be walkable, connecting to the Whole Foods, which opened in a former Kmart in 2017, and the luxury apartments that were recently built on another part of the property. Abrams declined to say how much the project would cost. Abrams’ experts estimated the development will bring in $966,000 in annual tax revenue for the township and more than $3.7 million for the school district. (Kumbhardare disputes that math, saying the township gets $800,000 a year in revenue from all the townhouse and apartment developments built since 2020, so the number for this project should be closer to $200,000). Before the rejection, Abrams said he had planned to start construction this spring. Now, the timeline is unclear. The legal process “will follow its course,” Abrams said. “But at this point we have got to protect our rights.” Dunn and Kumbhardare said they need to look out for the community, something they would have rather done without a lawsuit. But “I’m certainly not going to run scared,” Dunn said. “You have to do what is right by your residents.” Residents were largely on board with one mall redevelopment idea, the supervisors recalled. Before PREIT sold the property, the Philly-based developer was in talks with Costco about building a store there. “The Costco plan really made sense,” Kumbhardare said. “It would have brought more people to the town center, and it would help other businesses. That would be a boon to the area.” Added Dunn: “I hadn’t heard one person complain about that.”
