Towamencin developer updates Target, Whole Foods plans for shopping center

TOWAMENCIN — Next steps could come into focus soon for plans to revive a shopping center in Towamencin, and add a major destination nearby.

Township officials heard an update Wednesday night from developer PSDC on their plans to resurrect a shopping center at Forty Foot and Allentown Roads.

“We intend to work with the neighbors, the planning commission, and the board of supervisors, to fast-track this project, and hopefully complete updated zoning this summer,” said PSDC Vice President John Peruto.

Located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Forty Foot and Allentown roads, the former Towamencin Village Shopping Center has been a topic of lengthy discussion since the early 2010s, as the developer has promised several plans that have yet to materialize.

A Genuardi’s supermarket at the shopping center closed in 2010 and in 2022 the developer hinted at a new grocery tenant, speculated to be Amazon Fresh, before that company cancelled all plans for similar stores nationwide.

PSDC has also pushed other projects throughout the center, including a new Planet Fitness gym that opened in summer 2021, a new Chipotle and Mattress Warehouse on a pad site that formerly housed a Boston Market that was approved in March 2022, and façade upgrades to the rest of the center. In a February update, PSDC announced their latest plan includes a Whole Foods supermarket in the former grocery part of the center, and a new Target store behind the adjacent SKF office building, with each contingent on forward process with the other.

Peruto gave the township supervisors an update on April 24, saying the firm’s civil engineer is currently working on an updated overall plan that will likely be presented to the board and public in May, and will include a planned age-restricted apartment community on the site.

“The apartments will be developed on the land next to the proposed Target. These retail anchors are extremely important to the rest of the center, and are the missing pieces we’ve always needed to bring the center back,” Peruto said.

‘After we complete the zoning, we can more effectively market the center, to better retailers such as TJ Maxx, Sephora, PetSmart, who at present won’t seriously consider the project until the new zoning is in place,” he said.

As of the April 24 meeting, the developer has a signed lease agreement with Whole Foods, which is signed and is contingent “on getting the Target deal done,” and a letter of intent with Target that still has “a couple of small things that we’re working through, but we’re confident we can get it done,” Peruto told the board. The SKF office building just south of the center “will be vacant soon,” and the Chipotle and Mattress Warehouse building on a pad site in front of the shopping center has now started construction and is scheduled to open by the end of summer, he said.

“We are looking forward to next month’s meeting, when we can present our master plan. Next month, we’ll be able to answer (with) more specific details,” he said.

Supervisor Joyce Snyder asked how soon the developer could break ground on the new Target, and Peruto said that would depend on the approval timeline. Supervisor Kofi Osei asked if the developer had had any success finding another tenant for the SKF building, and Peruto said they had heard “a lot of interest.”

“It’s a matter of what fits well in the building as it stands now, and what’s feasible in terms of modification to the building. But we have had a good response to our marketing,” he said. Supervisor Kristin Warner asked if that included tours of the building, and Peruto said they have given “a number of tours.”

Resident Gisela Koch asked if the developer had a timeline to finalize the terms with Target, and Peruto said they did not; resident Jenn Foster asked if the Whole Foods lease included any deadline to have the Target deal done, and Peruto said it did not. Resident Joe Silverman said he recalled the prior tenants of the shopping center including a Sears store, dollar store, and restaurant, and asked how it had turned vacant over the years.

“I still don’t understand how the Sears shopping center is dead. It was vibrant. What happened? How did the bottom drop out?” he said.

Peruto answered that the shopping center was already largely vacant in 2015 when it was purchased by PSDC, and hit hard by the shift to online shopping and pandemic-era inflation and supply disruptions since, but the developer is “doing everything we can to bring it back.”  Supervisor Laura Smith recalled another key departure: “Genuardi’s left. When Genuardi’s left, the shopping center died.”

Peruto said he thought more small tenants were likely to sign on once the Target and Whole Foods plans were both finalized, saying “retailers will follow them.”

“Once they know that they’re going there, they’ll want to be next to them,” he said.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on May 8 at the township administrating building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.