What are their intentions with Phillipsburg Mall? Why would they allow a literal “ghost mall?” Gold’s Gym recently left – and Sears was long gone, but was simply demolished earlier this year.
One would think that someone who wanted to “revive” this mall – could do so easily.
Just create insanely affordable rents!
They don’t have to be long-term leases – just figure out a way to make a small profit – and fill every space. This would have a compounding effect, and could very well fill that mall to 100% capacity. And once it’s “thriving” again, just raise the rents accordingly.
Not sure why that is so difficult to understand.
But our beliefs are that they probably want this mall to go away. Turn into something else. Or maybe the company that owns this now has no idea what they’re doing. Who knows. We’re not finance experts, but the investors likely have a plan we don’t know the details of.
Regardless – it’s clear that having such a massive property sit “in limbo” for such a long time can frustrate area residents and passerby. People like things to have direction and purpose. A 90% vacant shopping mall can wear on even the most tolerant of individuals. “Do something already!”
Update: Bon Ton joins Sears at Phillipsburg Mall
After we had had originally written this story – we discovered that Bon Ton was also demolished.
There has to be a reason. Probably lowers the tax bill each month is our best guess.
