{"id":4659,"date":"2025-10-16T20:59:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/4659\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T20:59:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:59:21","slug":"new-buyer-plans-to-demolish-redevelop-aging-pa-mall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/4659\/","title":{"rendered":"New buyer plans to demolish, redevelop aging Pa. mall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"2WNEXJRA2RC75O6665DRCABOP4\">It looks like it might be curtains for a Berks County mall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"AMCK5ZBPWVDNTCMVA6YTYY46WQ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfmz.com\/news\/area\/berks\/reading-area\/ripe-for-redevelopment-developer-unveils-vision-to-revamp-berkshire-mall-in-wyomissing\/article_89a3c75e-b729-4c28-aad9-eb138e4d203b.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wfmz.com\/news\/area\/berks\/reading-area\/ripe-for-redevelopment-developer-unveils-vision-to-revamp-berkshire-mall-in-wyomissing\/article_89a3c75e-b729-4c28-aad9-eb138e4d203b.html\">According to WFMZ<\/a>, Abrams Realty Group of Montgomery County is looking to purchase the Berkshire Mall in Wyomissing, demolish it and redevelop the space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7IUY5CCJPNDRZKJF3P52TOU7QU\">\u201cEverybody knows that the Berkshire Mall is ripe for redevelopment,\u201d Peter Abrams of Abrams Realty said to WFMZ. \u201cEverybody\u2019s been waiting to see what would happen and to see what might emerge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"R7D5KZOSSFCHJNI4ORZBGM4S5A\">The company proposes to demolish the 910,000-square-foot mall, except for the Boscov\u2019s store, and build an open-air retail space in its place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4XJ42QMI3FAMPA2QDAU7D2GZBY\">\u201cThe economic benefit of this project is going to be astronomical versus what the economics benefits are that are coming out of it today,\u201d Abrams said to the news outlet. \u201cThe increase in the tax revenues is going to be massive to the school district and to the township and to the county.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"B53U5S2EKFDSHFKNMB2OF6YUMI\">Abrams said that he hopes to bring some big-name retail tenants to the new space but did not to provide any details.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FIITBUAV4BELLMTGKF3XMR42NI\">Wyomissing borough manager Michele Bare told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingeagle.com\/2025\/10\/15\/berkshire-mall-to-be-sold-demolished-and-redeveloped\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.readingeagle.com\/2025\/10\/15\/berkshire-mall-to-be-sold-demolished-and-redeveloped\/\">the Reading Eagle<\/a> that initial sketch plans for the redeveloped area allow for two to four big-box retailers with six smaller pad sites along the property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FGLVRJKO6BD7TDJOE7HF3E7TGI\">Abrams told WFMZ he plans for the company to close on the property by March 2026, with construction starting around early 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4Q4O4LS7D5BPRCGJBZEQ6WFUKM\">The mall is currently open and houses a number of tenants. Abrams said he plans to incorporate any tenants with long-term leases into the project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BSJRJ2N4RZC3HERYSWZS5D2I3M\">The news is leaving many of the mall\u2019s current store owners are concerned about their future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OY3XZ2RSKNA75G55324FYK5W3U\">\u201cThere\u2019s over 60 businesses in the mall, and they\u2019re thriving,\u201d Javon Phillips, co-owner of Lounge Around Games Co.,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfmz.com\/news\/area\/berks\/reading-area\/were-still-open-store-owners-react-to-plans-for-berkshire-mall\/article_a76a3041-b6a5-478a-8658-504dce6c7ba8.html#tncms-source=Homepage-Top-Stories\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wfmz.com\/news\/area\/berks\/reading-area\/were-still-open-store-owners-react-to-plans-for-berkshire-mall\/article_a76a3041-b6a5-478a-8658-504dce6c7ba8.html#tncms-source=Homepage-Top-Stories\"> said to WFMZ.<\/a> \u201cPeople are working in there, and it\u2019s going to affect a lot of people if it\u2019s demolished.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"672PO3ACUFHUFAV6SKLNQUEFH4\">\u201cAnybody that\u2019s saying that the mall is dead, come here on a Saturday evening, and it is packed,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes we are packed to capacity.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It looks like it might be curtains for a Berks County mall. According to WFMZ, Abrams Realty Group&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-4659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}