This South Jersey strip mall just sold for $41M as nearby regional malls struggle

A nearly 50-year-old Eagle Plaza in Voorhees features an Acme market and a pickleball complex. It sold for $12 million more than it did in 2022.

Eagle Plaza, a shopping center on Haddonfield-Berlin Road in Voorhees, was built in 1976. It recently sold for $41.7 million — $12 million more than it sold for in 2022. The new owners envision filling vacancies with new tenants and pursuing additional development on the 25-acre property.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

by Kevin Riordan

Published Dec. 19, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

Spanning an entire block along Route 561 in Voorhees, Eagle Plaza — home to about 40 stores, restaurants, service businesses, and 1,100 parking spots — could be anywhere in suburban America.

But as online commerce flourishes and some regional malls struggle, the familiarity and convenience of community shopping centers have helped the strip-style retail format thrive in the right locations.

Consider Eagle Plaza: On Dec. 13 KPR Centers announced its purchase of the 25-acre property for $41.7 million. That’s about $12 million more than the shopping center sold for in 2022.

Not bad for a nearly 50-year-old property that has undergone several ownership changes since 2019. Camden County even issued a “Grand Re-Opening” proclamation praising then-owner Hutensky Capital Partners for bringing “underperforming” shopping centers back to life.

KPR was ”attracted to Eagle Plaza based on the strong and diverse tenant mix ... and the presence of a high-performing grocery store anchor,” chief financial officer Andrew Frank said in a statement.

His company, based in New York City, acquired the property from First National Realty Partners in Red Bank, Monmouth County. KPR is a development and investment firm that owns and manages about 10 million square feet of retail space in 18 states.

“Eagle Plaza sits in the heart of the retail node in Voorhees Township, an area which has experienced tremendous population and income growth,” Frank said.

Nearly 240,000 people reside within a five-mile radius of the shopping center and close to 95,000 households in the area have average incomes approaching $145,000, according to KPR.

“Eagle Plaza has been a mainstay of our business community for decades,” said Voorhees Mayor Michael Mignogna.

“Brick and mortar retailing is not dead,” he said. “Eagle Plaza is a perfect example of that.”

Eric Flocco, executive vice president of the Marlton-based real estate firm WCRE, said traditional retail “isn’t going anywhere” as long as people living nearby continue needing to buy food, work out, and take care of other essentials.

Shopping center owners need to “adapt with their tenant mix and break some old molds,” Flocco said.

Eagle Plaza’s proximity to three fitness centers,” and especially the pickleball court complex that opened last spring in the center itself, likely were big factors in the significant price yielded here from the recent sale,” he said.

Rise, fall, and rise again?

Eagle Plaza was built on farm fields in 1976, six years after the Echelon Mall opened and inspired talk that Voorhees would soon rival the economic clout and cachet of Cherry Hill, the much larger neighboring township.

In the late 1990s Voorhees also saw a spate of commercial development along White Horse Road near Eagle Plaza, as well as construction of the Ritz (now AMC) cinemas and a new shopping center immediately east on Haddonfield Road.

In recent decades, the explosive expansion of online shopping, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, took a toll.

Although the Boscov’s department store at the former Echelon Mall, now known as the Voorhees Town Center, is doing well, the rest of what was once South Jersey’s second largest mall has been in limbo since a fire last April.

Nevertheless, “there is a redevelopment agreement in place between the owner, Namdar, and a developer,” Mignogna said.

Getting into the game

Eagle Plaza has nearly 230,000 square feet of space and tenants that include Acme, Ross, Five Below, Hand & Stone, and Mattress Firm, as well as a variety of restaurants, spas, and hair and nail salons. There’s also a liquor store and the Ace Pickleball Club, which took over a former Office Depot space last May.

“After seven months we are basically at capacity,” said owner Ira Krassan, who also owns the Hand & Stone Spa at Eagle Plaza.

“It’s the location, the visibility of the location, the ease of access, and the parking,” he said. “And, of course, it’s the sheer popularity of pickleball.”