March 21, 2025
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PREIT has sold the Exton Square Mall in Chester County to Abrams Realty for $34.25 million. The developer plans to demolish the mall and redevelop the property with hundreds of homes, new retail stores and other amenities.
The Exton Square Mall was sold Tuesday for $34.25 million to Abrams Realty, which plans to replace the 52-year-old shopping destination with hundreds of residences and new retail stores.
PREIT, the Philadelphia-based company that sold the mall, had tried to find a buyer for years as part of an effort to offload and reposition some of its mall properties. PREIT declared bankruptcy twice during the COVID-19 pandemic before it emerged last year as a private company with new ownership.
The struggling Exton Square Mall in West Whiteland Township was only 62% occupied last spring, and its Macy's department store is among those slated to be closed. PREIT previously had tried to sell the mall to Brandywine Realty Trust for $27.5 million in 2022, but the deal was later abandoned.
Abrams Realty, which owns 20 shopping centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, plans to tear down most of the mall to create "a dynamic hub" with residential, retail, dining, office and entertainment spaces, CEO Peter Abrams said Thursday in a press release. The Inquirer broke the news of the sale on Wednesday.
Abrams Realty has not provided a timeline for the redevelopment project, including how soon the Exton Square Mall might be closed to allow work to begin at the site.
The size of the project has prompted concerns in West Whiteland Township since Abrams Realty submitted a master plan for the 75-acre property in early February.
The developer wants to construct 376 apartments, 243 town homes, about 48,000 square feet of offices and nearly 150,000 square feet of new commercial space for shops and restaurants, among other amenities. Only the existing Boscov's store, a parking garage and three historic structures along Lincoln Highway would remain. The Main Line Health clinic inside the mall would be moved to a new building.
Abrams Realty also plans to build a central corridor that would allow pedestrians and cars to navigate the middle of the development.
Two days after the master plan was submitted, West Whiteland Township's board of supervisors approved a zoning ordinance that limits the number of homes allowed in the mall's mixed-use district and permits only apartments — not town homes and other dwellings — to be built there.
Abrams Realty won't be held to the new ordinance, because the developer's master plan received zoning permissions before the changes were made. Other zoning issues and concerns about traffic were raised Tuesday during a public meeting of the township's planning commission, which did not take action on the master plan.
"It is my understanding that Abrams intends to make revisions to their plan to address concerns that were voiced in the course of that public meeting and will re-submit the Master Plan for a second review – which is a pretty typical course of events for our review process, especially for large projects," John Weller, the township's director of zoning and planning, said in an email Friday.
When announcing the sale and redevelopment plans, Abrams said it will work with the township and residents to make Exton "a model" for such projects.
The township's historical commission is scheduled to review the master plan at a public meeting on April 14.
In a memo with recommendations to the planning commission, Weller's staff noted the mall site "generated considerably more traffic in the past than it does today." Abrams Realty is expected to provide a traffic impact study to help the township determine how adding homes to the area will affect congestion. The memo describes portions of the residential project as "excessively dense" for a suburban area.
"We are hopeful that (Abrams Realty) will respect our concerns and will modify the design to be more in line with the new provisions," Weller said.
PREIT has sought ways to introduce homes at its other mall properties, including selling land for apartments to be constructed at the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey. The company also has explored residential projects around the Willow Grove Park and Plymouth Meeting malls in Montgomery County.
PREIT CEO Jared Chupaila called the sale of the Exton Square Mall a pivotal step that shows the company can "unlock value in our portfolio while enabling properties to evolve" with their communities.
