Voters will decide on potential Moorestown Mall tenant in fall municipal election

MOORESTOWN – Local voters will consider a ballot question In the fall that could help bring a new tenant to Moorestown Mall.

The measure would allow the mall to offer “certain amusement games” that offer “prizes or awards … of merchandise only.” A qualifying business also would offer dining and a full bar, according to an explanatory statement to appear on the general election ballot.

The top executive at PREIT, the mall's Philadelphia-based owner, said he was “thrilled” to see voter support for the petition.

Joseph Coradino, PREIT’s president and CEO, said the potential tenant would offer “family-friendly entertainment,” as well as “economic growth, job opportunities and revenue for businesses in and around the mall.”

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PREIT has said the business could offer attractions like a trampoline park, a roller rink, bowling lanes and a ropes course adventure.

Other uses could include go-kart racing and virtual reality games.

The proposed family entertainment center would occupy the former Lord + Taylor department store.

The 121,000-square-foot space currently holds discounter Turn 7, with a lease that ends this year, according to PREIT.

New Jersey’s Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission is to determine the value of prizes and charges for playing, according to the ballot statement.

The ballot question would not authorize playing for money "or other valuable things."

A favorable vote would not allow casino or in-person gambling, Mayor Nicole Gillespie said in a recent column for township residents.

She said voter approval would be needed to overturn the results of a local referendum in 1962 that prohibited games of chance with prizes.

"We are one of very few municipalities in the state that still prohibit games of chance and the businesses that provide them, and all of the towns surrounding Moorestown allow them," she noted in a recent column for residents.

Township council unanimously passed a resolution at its Aug. 29 meeting that directs Burlington County's clerk to place the question on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.

The ballot question results from a voter initiative by PREIT. The company collected signatures of about 1,350 voters to put the issue before the township council.

The initiative is part of a turnaround effort for the mall, which ranks 14th among PREIT's 19 core malls in terms of sales per square foot.

The financially ailing mall owner is seeking tenants beyond its longtime retail base, as well as new uses for the Route 38 property.

Moorestown Mall is expected to open a Cooper Health Care out-patient campus in a former Sears store later this fall.

An apartment complex and a liquor store are to rise on parcels in a parking lot.

PREIT's disclosed no plans for comparable changes at Cherry Hill Mall, which is its most popular shopping center.

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: Moorestown Mall owner seeks approval to offer games of chance