Council Appoints Redeveloper For Moorestown Mall

MOORESTOWN, NJ — A Red Bank-based consulting firm will oversee the redevelopment of the Moorestown Mall.

Heyer-Gruel & Associates was appointed the redevelopment planner for the mall when Moorestown Council met Monday night.

The firm will coordinate between mall owners Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) and the township as plans move forward to bring up to 1,065 housing units and a hotel to the mall.

The announcement came on the same night Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie said its affordable housing plan has been deemed compliant for the township to meet its affordable housing obligations, and about a month after the mall was deemed an area in need of redevelopment. Read more here: Moorestown Mall Deemed Area In Need Of Redevelopment

“This is a huge milestone for us,” said Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie, putting a cap on nearly three years of public meetings and an even longer discussion about the township’s need to provide low- and moderate-income housing.

The township must act fast, though, because there are conditions to the agreement. One condition is that the township and the mall finalize their agreement by July 26, Gillespie said.

Heyer-Gruel was chosen from four firms that had responded to a request-for-proposal (RFP) from the township. The field was narrowed to two, and those two were interviewed by Gillespie and Councilman Dave Zipin.

“They both presented very well,” said Zipin, who said he preferred Heyer-Gruel because of their enthusiastic vision. “Susan Gruel was eager to face the challenge.”

Gillespie agreed. She spoke with officials in Bordentown, who praised the firm, Gillespie said.

“They work all over the state, particularly in Bordentown,” Gillespie said. “She had great references and creativity, and she’ll make sure the township’s needs and wants are kept in mind.”

Zipin pointed out that PREIT will have the ultimate say in what happens to the mall, but Heyer-Gruel will work as a liaison between the mall and the township.

“They have an interest in doing what is best for their stakeholders, and we have an interest in what’s best for Moorestown,” Zipin said. “I think we need a creative approach.”

Some of the agreement is already formalized. In January, PREIT entered into a rezoning agreement to allow a proposed apartment complex and hotel on the property. Up to 1,065 units may be built, with a portion set aside for affordable housing. Read more here: Moorestown Mall Owner Anticipates $150M From Apartment Complex, Hotel

The agreement centers around a three-phase plan to bring apartments and a hotel to the mall property. The first phase calls for an apartment building that houses 375 units, 75 of which would be set aside for affordable housing in the area formerly occupied by Lord & Taylor's, near the Sears auto center in the back of the property. It also calls for the construction of a hotel on the property.

If the plan advances to the second and third phases, additional units would be built. The total built over three phases would be 1,065 units, with 213 set aside for affordable housing. Read more here: Affordable Housing Complex, Hotel Approved For Moorestown Mall

However, there is no obligation for the second and third phases of the project, according to officials.

If it all comes together, the plan would help satisfy the township's unmet need of 310 affordable units under the settlement it reached previously with the Fair Share Housing Center.

The township was required to add 337 new affordable housing units by 2025 under its third round obligations, under an agreement reached with the Fair Share Housing Center in 2018. Read more here: Moorestown Approves Deal With Fair Share Housing Center

Some amendments to the plan have been made over the last few years, and Gillespie said all the updated numbers will be posted soon on the township’s website.

Council also approved a memorandum of understanding between the township and Walters-Cornerstone Development LLC for the development of an affordable housing complex at 200 Hartford Road, commonly known as the Nagle Tract.

This memorandum was mandated when the judge ruled that the township is meeting its obligations.

The Nagle Tract was earmarked for affordable housing 30 years ago, at a time when the area surrounding it was mostly farmland. Its viability for affordable housing has since come into dispute as development has been built.

The memorandum did no more than appoint Walters-Cornerstone to develop the site, but it appears that 152 units will be built, with a portion set aside for affordable housing. What type of housing that would be is unclear.

Affordable housing was formerly overseen by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) after the state Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for any town to zone in a way that made it impossible to build affordable housing in that town in 1975.

COAH set quotas for each town under the Fair Housing Act in the 1980s, and towns fulfilled their obligations over multiple rounds. However, COAH stopped acting on its oversight obligations in the late 1990s.

The number of required affordable housing units in municipalities statewide has been in dispute, and often in litigation, since 1999. In 2015, authority concerning setting affordable housing requirements for municipalities throughout the state fell on the courts.

Municipalities often reach agreements for the number of affordable units they need to build before a decision is handed down by the courts.