Developer submits revised plans for ‘generation-defining project’ at Exton Square Mall
Abrams Realty & Development said its new plans in West Whiteland include the removal of dozens of proposed townhouses, six acres of additional green space, and a more open entry at Route 30.
The real estate developer that wants to build hundreds of new homes and apartments on the site of the Exton Square Mall in Chester County has submitted new plans that the firm says reflect feedback from local officials and residents.
Elkins Park-based Abrams Realty & Development said the revised plans — set to be reviewed by local officials next week — include the removal of dozens of proposed townhouses and the addition of six more acres of green space, a more open entry at Route 30, and investments in stormwater infrastructure.
Abrams envisions a walkable community with shops, restaurants, and office space, as well.
“It becomes as if you’re in a small town,” CEO Peter Abrams said in an interview Friday, describing the project as a “prototypical example of what is happening around the country” with the redevelopment of distressed commercial properties.
“What the marketplace really wants in these larger projects is mixed-use town centers,” he said. “They’re beautiful. They create a sense of place. They become a destination for the community.”
The West Whiteland Township Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. to review and possibly recommend the proposal. The redevelopment is “a generation-defining project for the township — just as the original mall was in 1974,” John R. Weller, West Whiteland’s director of planning and zoning, said in a May memo.
Philadelphia-based PREIT sold the mall — the company’s worst-performing property — in March to Abrams for more than $34 million.
Abrams’ original plans called for 376 rental apartments and 243 for-sale townhouses, but local elected officials expressed concern that the proposed housing was too dense.
“That was something we heard loud and clear,” Abrams said.
The developer now says he wants to build 73 fewer townhouses — Abrams said he expects they will sell for $1 million or more each — but add a luxury “active adult” rental building for people 55 and older, with retail on the lower level.
Under the revised plans, Abrams would replace a proposed three-story Main Line Health building at the corner of the entrance at Route 30 with a single-story retail and restaurant space.
The Main Line Health location would be moved to another section of the development at the site of a former JCPenney. A deal with the healthcare system has not been finalized, Abrams said.
The developer says the town center is projected to generate about $8 million in annual tax revenue.