Sprouts and Raising Cane’s are coming to Roosevelt Mall as part of a $50 million redevelopment

Sprouts Farmers Market, chicken-finger chain Raising Cane’s, and American Chinese restaurant Panda Express are coming to Roosevelt Mall as part of an ongoing $50 million redevelopment of the decades-old Northeast Philadelphia shopping center.

As part of the redevelopment, which was announced last year, owner Brixmor Property Group will also update facades, add landscaping, widen sidewalks, update signage, and improve infrastructure at Roosevelt Mall. The self-funded, multi-year project will roll out in phases, but shoppers can expect to see significant changes within the next 12 months, said David Vender, executive vice president of Brixmor’s north region offices, which are headquartered in Conshohocken.

“It’s going to basically be a brand new shopping center, or appear like it was just newly built,” Vender said.

Located on Cottman Avenue between Roosevelt Boulevard and Bustleton Avenue, the 36-acre Roosevelt Mall has been a shopping destination in Northeast Philadelphia since its construction in 1964. Brixmor, a national, New York-based real estate company with 22 properties in the Philadelphia region, became its owner about a decade ago.

Now, as part of the first phase of the shopping center’s redevelopment, Brixmor is constructing new buildings in a previously underused area of Roosevelt Mall’s parking lot near Cottman Avenue. That structure will house the forthcoming 3,000-square-foot Raising Cane’s and 2,400-square-foot Panda Express restaurants, as well as other tenants that have not yet been publicly announced. In total, about 47,000-square-feet of new buildings are under construction.

The Sprouts grocery store, at 24,000 square feet, will be housed in an existing area of the shopping center’s main structure that formerly featured apparel retailers. Vender declined to say when the new stores might open.

Sprouts, which also operates a location at Broad Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, has become a catalyst for Roosevelt Mall’s redevelopment, Vender said. With its inclusion in the shopping center, other retailers have expressed interest in becoming tenants, and as a result, Brixmor was able to further pursue the redevelopment.

“We do feel like it makes a statement to bring in Sprouts Farmers Market, and we are seeing a depth of tenant interest,” Vender said.

» READ MORE: We used a new AI app to grocery shop at Sprouts in South Philly. This is what happened.

The addition of Sprouts to the center brings another grocery store to the area, which already has a Giant and an Acme nearby. But, Vender said, Sprouts focuses on organic, healthy food, which is largely missing from the area. Additionally, Roosevelt Mall’s immediate surroundings are home to about 300,000 people, which is an “incredibly dense” population of potential customers who may be underserved, he added.

Constructing additional buildings on the shopping center’s parking lot, Vender said, will add an entirely new look to the plaza.

“It’s somewhat of a downtown feel when you create these thoroughfares coming into the shopping center with liner shops on both sides of the main entrance, and great wide sidewalks,” Vender said.

With the redevelopment, Vender said Brixmor is focused on bringing better dining options to Northeast Philadelphia, as well as better shopping options that might otherwise look to bigger regional shopping centers, such as the King of Prussia Mall. Roosevelt Mall, he said, has long been a revenue driver thanks to its location at “one of the most powerful intersections in Philly,” and with the redevelopment, Brixmor is in talks with new tenants that otherwise may not have considered the site.

“It’s one of those landmark locations,” Vender said. “There is a particular sense of pride for us in what we’re doing here.”