Cooper outpatient center taking shape at Moorestown Mall

MOORESTOWN – On a recent afternoon, a loud pounding reverberated near a construction site for a new medical center at Moorestown Mall.

But the noise wasn’t coming from workers converting a long-vacant Sears store into a $150 million “outpatient campus” for Cooper University Health Care.

Instead, a handful of young men were flailing at a coin-operated punching bag, the sort of attraction more commonly found at boardwalk arcades but now on a largely deserted mall concourse.

The juxtaposition of the two scenes shows the looming importance of the medical complex.

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For Camden-based Cooper, the 165,000-square-foot center is intended to draw more patients while also boosting the health system’s suburban presence.

And for the mall’s operator, Philadelphia-based PREIT, the medical center is a big part of an effort to diversify and upgrade one of the struggling company’s lower performers.

“This is an expansion, not a consolidation,” Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli, one of Cooper’s two co-president/CEOs, said during a construction tour of the building.

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He said the complex will employ about 200 people, with half of them expected to be new hires.

The center’s first floor is to open in the late fall, said Christine Winn, a senior vice president with Cooper.

The second floor, which will include operating suites, should be completed a few months later, she said.

The facility, to offer 26 specialties, will include an outpatient surgery center, an imaging department and a radiation oncology suite, according to Cooper.

On a recent tour, the site looked nothing like a former department store — but was still far from the state-of-the-art medical center envisioned by Cooper.

Dimly lit hallways lacked ceilings. Flooring and walls were unfinished. A cart was loaded with fire extinguishers, and a hand-drawn sign directed visitors to an exit.

About 90 exam rooms awaited plumbing fixtures on two floors. They'd been assembled as shells in Philadelphia, trucked to the mall, and then fitted one by one into the center.

Some “flexible” exam rooms were grouped around common areas, where medical personnel will come together to collaborate.

Nipper making an appearance at Cooper complex

Renderings show the future lobby, about the length of a football field, will offer comfortable seating, artwork, a café and a counter lined with computer terminals for patients’ use.

A statue of Nipper, the dog once used as a mascot by RCA, will greet visitors at the center’s mall entrance, now sealed off with plastic sheeting.

Nipper statues also dot downtown Moorestown, but this canine will be bright red, Cooper’s trademark color.

The center’s main entrance will open onto a parking lot off Route 38. A third entrance will serve ambulance traffic.

PREIT sold the former Sears, which closed in 2020, to Cooper for $10.1 million in 2021.

Owning the property “is consistent with our philosophy of controlling our destiny,” said Kevin O’Dowd, Cooper’s other co-president/CEO.

PREIT is trying to change its own destiny by scrapping a now-outdated reliance on department stores and other retailers. It's also shedding assets in an effort to reduce heavy debts.

Moorestown Mall ranks 14th among PREIT’s 19 shopping centers when measured by sales per square foot, the company has said. Its top performer is Cherry Hill Mall.

But the firm on Aug. 3 cited Moorestown Mall as an example of leasing and redevelopment successes when reporting a net loss of $45.6 million for its latest quarter.

PREIT last year sold a parcel in Moorestown Mall’s parking lot for the ongoing development of a 365-unit apartment complex. A 125-room hotel also is planned for a parking lot site.

And PREIT is promoting a voter initiative that, if on the ballot and approved by township residents in November, would allow the mall to attract upscale arcade operators like Dave & Buster’s.

"Moorestown Mall continues to redefine the traditional retail experience," the company said last September when it held a public meeting to promote the shopping center's "transformation."

It said changes at the mall "are part of PREIT’s overall focus on evolving its properties into community hubs."

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Cooper University Health Care recycles former Sears at Moorestown Mall