The Franklin Mall in Northeast Philadelphia — formerly Franklin Mills and Philadelphia Mills — is up for sale after years of decline and is being marketed as a potential site for industrial redevelopment.
The 36-year-old mall, once one of the region's premiere shopping destinations, is only 68% occupied and has lost major tenants including the AMC movie theater, Forever 21 and Sam Ash music store in recent years. The property is listed by real estate firm JLL, which did not advertise a price.
The 170-acre site, located just off Interstate 95 near Woodhaven Road, does not include the separate Walmart and Sam's Club stores that are tenant-owned. At 1.6 million square feet, the shopping mall is the second-largest in the region behind the 2.9-million-square-foot King of Prussia Mall.
The Franklin Mills property was built in the shape of a lightning bolt as a nod to Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment. The inside of the mall once featured an animatronic Ben Franklin head suspended from the ceiling. In the early 1990s, a TV commercial for the mall starred an actor who played Franklin dancing alongside shoppers to an adapted version of the Marcia Griffiths hit "Electric Boogie."
That atmosphere has vanished almost entirely from the mall, which has stretches of vacant storefronts and draws minimal foot traffic. The remaining anchors are Dave & Buster's, Burlington and Marshalls. The mall's directory still lists 94 businesses ranging from Old Navy and Foot Locker to Five Below and the discount URBN outlet Reclectic.
The mall was most recently owned by a joint venture between Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. They purchased the property in 2007, acquiring original mall owner Mills Corp., and took out a $290 million loan. The mall was rebranded Philadelphia Mills in 2014, but changed to Franklin Mall after the property was taken over by debt holders last year.
The property was appraised last year at $76 million, a steep drop from its $201 million appraisal in 2012, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. The loan on the property matured last year with a remaining balance of $244 million. The mall was last renovated in 2016.
The Franklin Mall will join several others in the region that are in transition. The Neshaminy Mall, located about 10 miles north in Bucks County, was put on the market last year and purchased within four months. It will be redeveloped with a smaller shopping footprint.
The Exton Square Mall in Chester County, bought last year for $34.25 million, is now the subject of a legal battle over the new owner's plans for a mixed-use redevelopment opposed by the board of supervisors in West Whiteland Township.
In Montgomery County, the Plymouth Meeting Mall is being sold as part of a plan to create housing, athletic fields and a community center alongside retail. The former Echelon Mall in Voorhees, once one of the largest in South Jersey, also will be redeveloped with more than 300 new homes surrounding revamped retail spaces.