Voorhees Town Center

Voorhees Town Center (formerly Echelon Mall) is a regional shopping mall and residential area located in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1970 and named after Echelon Airfield which was located where the mall stands today.[2] The Echelon Mall was renamed Voorhees Town Center in 2007.[3] Boscov's currently serves as the only anchor of the mall.

Voorhees Town Center
LocationVoorhees Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Coordinates39.8500°N 75.0023°W / 39.8500; -75.0023
Opening date1970[1]
OwnerMason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group
No. of stores and services50+
No. of anchor tenants2 (1 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area664,380 sq ft (61,723 m2)[1]
No. of floors2 (3 in former Macy’s)
ParkingParking lot
Public transit access NJ Transit bus: 403, 451, 459
Websitevoorheestowncenter.com

Property history

The site on which the Echelon Mall was built began as an airfield; nearly 200 acres (0.81 km2) of farmland bought by flying enthusiasts Rogers and Jeannette Smith in 1939. The Echelon Airfield was incorporated in 1944 and went on to house 20 planes. The development included three grass runways, a gift shop, a small café and hangar capable of housing six planes. The airfield was mostly used for recreational flying, flying lessons, and a take-off point for crop dusters and chartered flights.

Rogers Smith died in a flying accident in 1950, and his wife leased the airfield to Hugh and Kay Hamill, who ran the airfield until Mrs. Smith sold the property in 1962. The new owners renamed the field Delaware Valley Airpark, and ran it for three more years. In 1969, groundbreaking occurred to construct the Echelon Mall. Developed by The Rouse Company, the mall opened in 1970.[4][5]

Echelon Mall
Old Echelon Mall signage along Somerdale Road

Until redevelopment began in January 2007, the Echelon Mall had a gross leasable area of 1,127,308 sq ft (104,730.3 m2).[6][7] This made it the second largest mall in southern New Jersey after the Cherry Hill Mall. Echelon was developed in 1970 as the center of a residential and commercial center in Voorhees. In October 1992, the Echelon Mall opened a family entertainment center called Exhilarama, which was owned and operated by Edison Brothers Stores. Exhilarama was a popular indoor amusement center throughout the mid-1990s until it closed in 1996. Housed in the same building as Exhilarama, was a General Cinema movie theater, which closed a few years later. The building was demolished and the land was used to provide parking for the mall.

Decline
Lower level looking from Boscov's towards the food court

Echelon was a popular mall up until around 2000, when the mall began to struggle, and by 2005, the vacancy rate was nearly 75%.[8] Echelon had several problems that contributed to its high vacancy rate, including overexpansion; the mall had four anchors. Sears, which was built in 1998, closed just three years later. Also, the rest of the mall did not receive a much needed renovation to stay competitive and attractive. JCPenney left the mall shortly after Sears. There had been a gradual loss of national chains since. Most of the upper level is vacant, especially in the section near Macy's.

Numerous other malls are located nearby, including Cherry Hill Mall and moderately-sized malls in Moorestown and Deptford. While Echelon competed with these centers for years, the advent of newer centers such as The Promenade at Sagemore in Marlton, and significant renovation of the Deptford Mall, with the addition of a JCPenney, have provided more attractive shopping alternatives in the area. Also, whereas most United States shopping malls are located near an Interstate highway or at least a principal thoroughfare, Echelon is relatively difficult to get to, located at the somewhat obscure intersection of Somerdale and Burnt Mill Roads in Voorhees.

First redevelopment plans
Former Macy's entrance

After its proposal for a Walmart store was rejected by residents, PREIT submitted plans to demolish the abandoned anchor stores and adjacent mall space to make way for a mixed-use "town center" featuring a 65,000-square-foot (6,000 m2) supermarket and 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2) of retail stores along a landscaped boulevard. PREIT renovated the downsized mall to house 253,000 square feet (23,500 m2) of small specialty shops along with anchor stores Macy's and Boscov's.

The mall was officially renamed as Voorhees Town Center. The groundbreaking ceremony on the redevelopment project was on January 30, 2007.[9] The former Sears and JCPenney buildings, and the mall corridor between Macy's and the former JCPenney were demolished.

In December 2007, work was completed on the mall portion of the town center. Condos and new office complexes were also built around the same time. In May 2011, the Voorhees Township municipal offices relocated to the town center. According to PREIT, the Voorhees Town Center is only the third mall in the United States to be anchored by municipal offices.[10]

Macy's storefront closed in May 2017

Future redevelopment

In October 2015, PREIT sold the Voorhees Town Center for $13.4 million to Namdar Realty Group after Macy's announced the closure of 36 unspecified stores.[11] However, when Macy's later released a statement announcing the stores to be closed, Voorhees Town Center was not mentioned.[12]

On January 4, 2017, it was announced that Macy's would be closing in spring 2017 as part of a plan to close 68 stores nationwide which left Boscov's as the only anchor left.[13]

Throughout 2017 and 2018, many national merchants left the struggling mall. At the time, the vacancy rate at the mall was 40 percent.

In March 2018, Voorhees Township officials moved forward with a plan that declared the mall a "redevelopment area" and would've condemned parts of the mall under eminent domain.[14] The plan called for the township acquiring most of the mall and the shuttered Macy's anchor store for redevelopment.

By June 2018, the town began accepting offers from potential redevelopers to prevent an eminent domain situation. Some of the proposed ideas included "adding microbreweries and making it more like an Xfinity Live-type atmosphere or like a Dave & Buster's."[15]

By September 2018, township officials had selected Brandywine Financial Services Corp. to "transform the largely vacant mall into a mixed-use center with housing and entertainment attractions."[16] Township officials indicated that some parts of the mall may be razed during the redevelopment.

By January 2019, plans began to solidify further, which "includes beer courts instead of food courts, laser tag, sports bars and outdoor movie nights when weather permits."[17] Also included in the plan are more town homes and apartments that could be built in and around the former Macy's.

Anchors

Former anchors

References
  1. "Voorhees Town Center Fact Sheet" (PDF). PREIT. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
  2. "PREIT Announces Construction to Begin on Voorhees Town Center: Demolition of former Sears Building at Echelon Mall Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at 11:00 AM Redevelopment will transform Echelon Mall into Voorhees Town Center", PREIT press release dated January 29, 2007. The property has been sold to an unknown owner in October 2015. Accessed February 28, 2008.
  3. "Echelon Mall: Voorhees, New Jersey". deadmalls.com. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  4. Ott, Dwight (October 19, 1986). "The Easy Way Out Of South Jersey". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  5. Misenko, Rachel (September 9, 2009). "Echelon Airfield will be focus of Voorhees tribute". Courier-Post. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
  6. "Directory of Major Malls: Echelon Mall". International Council of Shopping Centers. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  7. "ICSC SHOPPING CENTER DEFINITIONS: Basic Configurations and Types" Archived June 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, International Council of Shopping Centers. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  8. Wither Echelon?, Tom Lorenz's Blog. March 4, 2005
  9. Grzyboski, Lisa. Town Center project under way in Voorhees, Courier-Post, January 31, 2007.
  10. "Voorhees moves town hall to new mall". NJ.com. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  11. Adelman, Jacob (October 30, 2015). "PREIT sells Voorhees Town Center after learning an anchor store will close". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  12. Adelman, Jacob (January 9, 2016). "Anchor Stores at Voorhees Town Center seem set to stay put". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  13. Parmley, Suzette (January 4, 2017). "Four Philly-area Macy's will close this spring". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  14. Walsh, Jim (March 27, 2018). "Former Echelon Mall in Voorhees could face condemnation".
  15. Walsh, Jim (June 26, 2018). "Entertainment options proposed for former Echelon Mall".
  16. Walsh, Jim (September 18, 2018). "Is a mixed-use development in the future for Voorhees mall?".
  17. Duhart, Bill (January 29, 2019). "Plan to resurrect dying mall features a 'beer court' and drive-in movies".
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