Greater Philadelphia's second-largest mall is slated to sell to one of the region's most well-known developers, who plans to rebuild it with a youth sports complex and new apartments.
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Dean Adler is under contract to buy the vacancy-riddled Franklin Mall in Northeast Philadelphia from a joint venture between Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management, he told Bisnow on Thursday.
The builder said he is now plotting 250 units of workforce housing, a waterpark and a baseball-centric youth sports complex similar to Cal Ripken’s Ripken Baseball facility in Maryland.
“We’re going to try to make it a significant family entertainment area,” Adler said of the planned investments totaling $100M.
He expects those developments to span 80 acres. Some parts of the ailing mall, previously known as Franklin Mills, would be torn down, while others would be preserved or repurposed.
“Obviously, [Sam’s Club] and Walmart stays,” the developer said.
Adler is buying the 1.6M SF property from the joint venture of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management, which retained JLL late last year to market it for sale.
The property is in a CA-2 auto-oriented commercial district, which means Adler will need new zoning or a variance to build apartments.
The developer doesn’t predict there will be any issues with getting that done. He expects the city will support the workforce housing and after-school youth mentorship program he is planning at the sports complex.
“There’s access to the highway, and you have a dense neighborhood,” Adler said of the site off I-95 near the border with Bucks County. “That part of Philadelphia needs this.”
The sale came after Adler partnered with PMC Property Group to buy Philadelphia's largest office property at 1500 Market St. in Center City earlier this year. They are plotting a partial conversion that will bring apartments and a hotel to the towers across from City Hall.
Franklin Mall first opened in 1989 on the site of the former Liberty Bell Park Racetrack. It thrived for a time, but the enclosed portion has struggled with vacancy in recent years.
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