Moorestown Mall Could Soon Include Three New Apartment Buildings and a Hotel

The Moorestown Mall, off Route 38 in Burlington County, may be growing, but not for shopping.

It's possible, the Moorestown Mall as we know it now, could soon look very different. More like what happened when the Echelon Mall in Voorhees became the Voorhees Town Center.

A new proposal, for apartments and a hotel, was reportedly put together this week by PREIT, the mall's owner, Moorestown Twp., and the Cherry Hill-based Fair Share Housing Center.

If approved, three four-story apartment buildings would be built on parking lots near the mall's Boscov's and Lord & Taylor department stores. According to Courier Post, 213 of the planned 1,065 housing units would be affordable housing. That's something Fair Share Housing Center has been advocating for.

The first phase of development, a more than 400,00-square-foot apartment complex featuring 375 units (75 of which would be part of the affordable housing agreement) and a parking garage, would reportedly require no demolition.

In a future phase, 112,000-square foot hotel would reportedly go up in a parking lot near the rear of the mall, between Lenola Rd. and Sears Auto Center.

It begs the question, could a model like this one at the Moorestown Mall work in Mays Landing? Would apartments and hotels breathe new life into the fledgling shopping mall there? It has an empty Sears department store, too, and the giant Atlantic City racetrack behind it. A similar development revitalized the former Garden State racetrack area. Economically, Moorestown and Cherry Hill are very different from Mays Landing, but it certainly could be an option.

SOURCES: Courier Post

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