With former Echelon Mall property up for sale, Voorhees still hopes for a renewal

The Echelon Mall’s developer predicted in 1970 that the $80 million, 400-acre expanse of retail, housing, office, and recreation facilities could prove to be a prototype for “a new kind of downtown” in the suburbs.

F. Aubrey Gorman, vice president of the Rouse Co. — the builder of the Cherry Hill Mall and Philadelphia’s original Gallery at Market East — told a local newspaper that Echelon “holds out the hope [that] many municipalities will be able to build a town center from scratch.”

In the half-century since Echelon opened in Voorhees Township, built-from-scratch suburban downtowns are rare and many shopping malls have come and gone. But others such as Granite Run in Delaware County and Moorestown in Burlington County are coming back — augmented by new retail, housing, medical, entertainment, or other uses.

Despite a makeover 16 years ago, the rebranded Voorhees Town Center “is clearly in need of resuscitation,” township Mayor Michael Mignogna said.

The property owner, the Namdar Group, “has entered into [a] mixed-use residential/commercial redevelopment agreement which is still in its conceptual stage,” said the mayor.

“The basic framework of the mall would be kept intact,” he said, adding, “we are hopeful the conceptual plan becomes a reality and the Town Center once again becomes a community destination.”

Namdar declined to comment. Neither the mayor nor other township officials would identify a potential buyer.

But the two-alarm fire that damaged the food court and forced the closing of the remaining mall portion of the property in April appears to have complicated a potential sale.

“As part of the agreement between Namdar and another entity, there is no confirmed closing date yet, as several factors are still in motion,” said a real estate expert who asked not to be identified because they are not a party to the transaction.

The expert also said the potential redevelopment could include about 200 units of housing, as well as retail in a concept somewhat similar to the mixed-use shopping and residential complex at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill.

After years of decline that saw anchor department stores JCPenney and Sears close and other vacancies rise, Echelon was partially demolished, rebranded as the Voorhees Town Center, and celebrated a grand opening in 2008. About 400 rental and other residential units were added as well.

In 2011, the township spent $5.5 million to purchase and renovate 22,000 square feet of space on the mall’s second level to construct a new Town Hall there. The facility will not be part of any sale.

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The former Strawbridge & Clothier that anchored the center of the mall was replaced by a Macy’s in 2006. But that department store closed in 2017, and the massive, slab-like structure still looms over the mostly deserted parking lot adjacent to it on Somerdale Road.

The former Macy’s is expected to be included in a sale; the sort of “experiential” retail sought for the Town Center as part of the township’s 2023 Phase 2 redevelopment plan for the site likely could be accommodated there.

Not for sale: A mixed-use residential and retail district called the Boulevard Shoppes that was constructed in 2008. The four buildings also are owned by Namdar.

Despite some vacancies on the boulevard, several destination restaurants as well as the Rizzieri Aveda School & Salon are in operation there.

Meanwhile, the mall’s sole remaining department store, Boscov’s, is not for sale. Neither is its 13-acre site, much of it devoted to parking.

“It’s a great store, and we look forward to working with a new [mall] owner,” CEO Jim Boscov said in an interview from the company’s Reading headquarters.

Said Jacob Stein, executive vice president for Boscov’s operations: “We’ve talked to numerous potential interested parties, and we’re interested in talking to whoever is going to be a new owner.”

As for the conceptual plan, “at this time it hasn’t come to us, but we’re happy to look at it,” he said.

“Malls go through phases,” said Boscov, whose company continues to operate at malls other department stores have abandoned, such as Moorestown, as well as Neshaminy Mall in Bucks County.

“Whatever happens to the mall, we do just fine,” he said. “But we work very closely with new owners to make sure we’re part of the program. If it’s good for the mall owner and the community, it’s going to be good for Boscov’s.”

While the Town Center may yet become another mall success story, its recent history is complicated.

» READ MORE: Owner of former Echelon Mall, called 'slumlord' in Fla., taps overseas cash to become nation's biggest mall buyer

Namdar bought the center from regional mall owner Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust in 2015, after the Philadelphia firm had spent $150 million to buy and renovate the property.

The township was unhappy with how Namdar — described as a “bottom feeder that scoops up malls” in one recent business publication headline — was maintaining the property.

But a promising redevelopment partnership between Namdar and Brandywine Realty Trust was dissolved due to the pandemic in 2020.

And since April, the remaining two-story section of the mall has been closed due to the two-alarm food court fire. The latest update on the Voorhees Town Center’s Facebook page was posted in July and described a reopening that was weeks away at the time.

Local news websites have reported the fire damaged cooking ventilation systems and that the blaze remains under investigation. The Camden County Fire Marshal’s office was not available Monday.

“We are waiting for the insurance companies involved to complete their investigations and advise us of the cause of the fire,” said Mignogna.

Despite the setbacks, the Voorhees Town Center is important to the township’s future, Mignogna said.

“A redevelopment could be a major catalyst to an area that has been struggling.” said Jason M. Wolf, founder and principal of Wolf Commercial Real Estate in Mount Laurel.

“The site is clearly underutilized by the current property owner,” said Jim Lex, executive director of the Camden County Improvement Authority.

There are better uses “than the sea of asphalt that currently inhabits a large share” of the site, he said.

Mignogna said: “The township is working with the owner and the redeveloper to advance the conceptual plan into a reality [that] will make our community proud.”