PREIT sells land at Moorestown Mall for multifamily housing development

Before COVID-19 got all Class A mall developers considering new uses for their well-located land, PREIT CEO Joe Coradino said he would consider selling off surrounding mall property to multifamily developers in dense regions needing housing. 

Now his second such deal is done.

PREIT today closed on the sale of a parcel to a residential housing developer that will build 375 residential units at Moorestown Mall in Moorestown, N.J., less than 10 miles from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge that leads to Center City Philadelphia. The name of the buyer was announced.

The Philadelphia-based mall owner also closed on the sale of a Moorestown outparcel to Four Corners Property Trust for $2.4 million and expects sales of six more outparcels to be finalized in the coming weeks.

PREIT plans to reap $56 million from future transactions in its pipeline in a debt reduction plan to pay down $82 million through June 30, 2022.

"We are keenly focused on continuing to raise capital to improve our balance sheet as we simultaneously drive operational enhancements to improve the overall quality of our offering," said CEO Joseph Coradino. “The closing of the Moorestown land sale evidences the power of the portfolio and the real estate we have aggregated."

In 2018, PREIT completed the sale of a four-acre parcel at its Exton Square Mall in the northern Philadelphia suburbs, within 10 miles of Simon’s King of Prussia Mall. The purchaser, Hanover Company, is building 300 luxury apartments there.