Meeting Of The Minds
Competing in an upscale market, Plymouth Meeting Mall is transformed into a hybrid center to appeal to new shoppers.
Randall Shearin

An outdoor restaurant plaza was added as part of Plymouth Meeting Mall’s redevelopment.

When Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) acquired Plymouth Meeting Mall in 2003, as part of a portfolio of centers from The Rouse Company, it knew it had a great location. The center, however, had some tough competition and had seen some leakage of retailers to more upscale properties. The solution, says Joe Coradino, president of PREIT-Rubin, wasn’t to make the center more upscale, but to differentiate it by adding retailers the market didn’t have in a new kind of retail environment.

“Although the center was positioned well geographically, it was clear the competitive environment was having an impact on Plymouth Meeting Mall,” he says. “It was a phenomenal location, but its retailers were competing with several other centers in the area, including one owned by PREIT.”

The center is located at the confluence of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, its Northeast extension, Interstate 476 (Philadelphia’s beltway) and Germantown Pike in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. Annual auto traffic is estimated at 90 million cars per year passing the center. In addition, the center’s primary trade area has an average household income of $90,994. Because of the stiff competition vying for its strong demographics, PREIT developed a strategy to differentiate Plymouth Meeting Mall. By adding several new elements and retail offerings, it would turn the center into a hybrid — part open-air, part enclosed center. The bulk of the redevelopment was on the exterior of the existing mall, since a $45 million renovation was done on the center’s interior in the 1990s. PREIT also didn’t want to touch the interior of the center because of its historic significance — Plymouth Meeting Mall was one of the first enclosed malls in Pennsylvania and was designed by Victor Gruen in 1966.

“We focused our energy instead on creating an outdoor dining, entertainment and shopping experience that flowed into the mall,” says Coradino.

A second open-air plaza, anchored by Whole Foods and a wing of lifestyle shops, was a major part of Plymouth Meeting Mall’s redevelopment.

Key to the redevelopment was the creation of two outdoor plazas with retailers and restaurants; a 300-space parking deck underneath one of the plazas; and some additional retail near the existing AMC Theatre, all to compliment the existing regional mall anchored by Macy’s and Boscov’s. One of the outdoor plazas is anchored by Whole Foods Market and Café. The site of this plaza was formerly home to IKEA’s first store in the Philadelphia area, which moved several years ago. Construction on the project began in phases, first beginning in May 2007, and completing in October 2009. Both plazas feature lighting, colored concrete flooring, landscaping, and modern lighting that flow to the mall’s entrance. The materials on the facades are different for each outward facing tenant, differentiating the stores and providing each with a personality.

“All of Victor Gruen’s malls were originally designed to truly be town centers before that became the buzzword,” says Frankie Campione, principal of CREATE Architecture, architect of record for the redevelopment. “Plymouth Meeting was originally designed with an office building and a church. Both still exist on the property. By adding the market and the open-air plazas, we wanted to bring back the notion that Plymouth Meeting Mall is truly a town center that can be used at all hours of the day.”

The Whole Foods Market and Café lease, originally signed in 2005, complicated the redevelopment. While the location for the store was locked, PREIT debated on what to position adjacent to the store to maximize its visibility and access, as well as how to capitalize on its potential target customer through co-tenancy. PREIT knew the 65,000-square-foot flagship location would bring an entirely different customer than the mall did. The solution was to bring a few restaurants and like-minded lifestyle retailers to this area of the center.

One of the top upscale shopping destinations in the Northeast, The Plaza and The Court at King of Prussia, is just 15 minutes away from Plymouth Meeting.

“It was always hard for Plymouth Meeting Mall to lure the retailers and shoppers away,” says Mark Wasserman, vice president of development for PREIT. “We wanted to be different by bringing the entertainment and restaurant aspect to the center so that our market would have a center that catered to its demands. Whole Foods Market and Café is an incredible traffic driver.”

The Whole Foods Market and Café store is one of the largest in the Philadelphia market. The retailer established a footprint in the market through the purchase of Fresh Fields; most Whole Foods locations in the Philadelphia area are former Fresh Fields stores. The new store at Plymouth Meeting Mall features a rooftop café, and entertainment areas where parties can be held.

PREIT spent more than $90 million on the redevelopment of Plymouth Meeting Mall, which essentially created two new areas: a restaurant wing and the Whole Foods Market and Café-anchored lifestyle wing, as well as adding Krazy City and a freestanding restaurant near the theater.

“Our biggest challenge was doing all this while the economy was in a tailspin,” says Wasserman. “That made it a little difficult, but the center has turned out to be a success despite that. We intend to have full lease up by early 2010.”

Loft, Chico’s, Olly and Jos. A. Bank are among the retailers who tenant the center’s new lifestyle wing.

High-end restaurants also made a huge entrance to the market because of Plymouth Meeting Mall’s great location. Restaurants at the center include Redstone American Grill, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, California Pizza Kitchen, Benihana, Dave & Buster’s, Bertucci’s, King Buffet and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Another addition to the center, Krazy City, a 23,000-square-foot indoor amusement park, attracts young families to the center. The restaurants anchor one of the plazas, while Whole Foods Market and Café and the lifestyle wing anchor the other new plaza.

“The restaurants and Whole Foods Market and Café gave us the ability to bring in some other tenants to line our lifestyle addition,” says Coradino. “Loft, Jos. A. Bank, Chico’s, OLLY Shoes and Coldwater Creek were just a few attracted by the tenant mix and outdoor environment.”

Because of the tenant mix, Plymouth Meeting Mall now has a new customer base that it didn’t have before redevelopment. Also, sales at the restaurants, when combined, equate to that of a strong-performing department store, effectively adding another anchor to the center.

“We have created a place where we are getting every possible kind of shopping trip,” says Coradino. “The retailers are seeing the best of all worlds. Shoppers are coming to their stores more than just the ‘I want to go shop at the mall’ trip.”

“At one point, it became obvious that our quest to make Plymouth Meeting Mall desirable required us to remember the basics as to why we shop; that of necessity as well as of pleasure,” adds Campione. “PREIT was aware that the mall could cater to both middle and upscale markets, thus engaging the notion that a visit to Plymouth Meeting Mall would truly provide one-stop shopping.”

©2009 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.