Retrofit Atlas

Malls · Pennsylvania

Fairgrounds Square Mall

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedClosedMuhlenberg, PA

Opened 1980. Closed 2018. Redeveloped.

Status nowClosedextracted, unreviewed
What it becamehousing, hotel, retail, parkextracted, unreviewed
Last sale$13.6M · 2013public reporting
Retrofit yearNot yet retrofittedstatus
Walkability9.3 of 20 · 15-minute 5 of 6EPA, OpenStreetMap
Rail within 800 mNoOpenStreetMap, HUD
Ask who owns this Download dossier (PDF) · early access Download record (JSON) API Share LinkedIn Correct this record

Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from.

Fairgrounds Square Mall
Fairgrounds Square Mall. Photo: Dough4872, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile15 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors
Boscov'sThis site: Boscov's wikipedia · all sites with this
Finance and pipeline
Attention fading (Wikipedia views −40% y/y)This site: 3,022 views, -40% wikimedia · all sites with this
Website dead or redirectingThis site: …http://www.shopatfairgrounds.com overture / http check · all sites with this
Place
15-minute neighbourhood (5+ of 6 daily needs within 800 m)This site: 5/6 openstreetmap · all sites with this
County lost 10%+ of retail establishments since 2012This site: -13% census-cbp · all sites with this
Grocery within 800 mThis site: 5 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this
High social vulnerability tract (SVI ≥ 0.75)This site: 0.77 cdc-svi · all sites with this
Tract house prices doubled in 10 yearsThis site: +123% fhfa · all sites with this
Tract income up 60%+ since 2013This site: +60% census-acs · all sites with this
Policy tool
Tax abatement or incentiveThis site: …tax incentive from Muhlenberg Township Other developments planned include extraction · all sites with this
Strategy
RedevelopedThis site: Boscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, AMC Classic, Super Shoes, Planet Fitness, Baja Beach Tanning Club, and Quest Diagnostics remained open after the mall closed. extraction · all sites with this
New use
HotelThis site: …ll closed. Other developments planned included townhomes, a hotel, and a restaurant. extraction · all sites with this
HousingThis site: after the mall closed. Other developments planned included townhomes, a hotel, and a restaurant. extraction · all sites with this
Park and open spaceThis site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this
Retail (continued)This site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

StatusClosedextracted, unreviewed
StrategyRedevelopedextracted, unreviewed
New useshousing, hotel, retail, parkextracted, unreviewed
What is there nowBoscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, AMC Classic, Super Shoes, Planet Fitness, Baja Beach Tanning Club, and Quest Diagnostics remained open after the mall closed.extracted, unreviewed
RedeveloperHull Property Groupextracted, unreviewed

Planning

Public purchase or subsidytax incentive from Muhlenberg Townshipextracted, unreviewed
Planning notesOther developments planned included townhomes, a hotel, and a restaurant.extracted, unreviewed

Deals and debt

DateEventPricePartiesSource
2013Sold$13.6M closedBNY Mellon ← GP-Fairgrounds Square LPWikipedia

Site context

Transit within 800 mno rail stationOpenStreetMap
Motorway junctions within 2 kmjunctionOpenStreetMap
FEMA flood zoneX · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m10: CLOVER FARMS DAIRY COMPANY; HESS STATION 38518; KMART 4840; METRO EDISON CO/HQ BLDG POTTSVILLE PIKE; MOBIL OIL CORP SS# DMTEPA FRS
Census tract 420110126002,658 people, 3,214 per sq mi; median household income $72,273; median gross rent $1,200; 31% renters; 7.5% vacant units; 3.8% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Walkability (EPA, block group)index 9.3 of 20; 70 intersections per sq mi; no transit stop within the EPA search radius; land-use mix 0.84; 66,751 jobs within 45 min by car; 11% of households without a carEPA Smart Location
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)5 of 6 daily needs: 5 grocers, 0 schools, 5 parks or playgrounds, 1 health, 1 civic, 14 food and drink; 0 cycleway segments, 29 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity ZonenoHUD
Housing permits, Berks County (PA), 2024165 units in 5+ unit buildings, 18 in 2–4, 214 single-family; 2023: 105 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)overall percentile 0.77; socioeconomic 0.76; housing and transport 0.41; 23% below 150% of poverty; 10% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby2 within 10 km, 2 within 25 km: Abbey Gardens office complex (5.1 km); Berkshire Mall (5.6 km)computed
Overture Mapsplace Fairgrounds Square Mall (shopping_mall, confidence 0.77, from Foursquare, Overture); building footprint 6,193 m²Overture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Website and socialwww.shopatfairgrounds.com (down or redirecting, status 404)Overture / Internet Archive
Attention: Wikipedia page views57,861 since 2015; 3,022 in the last 12 months (-40% vs the prior 12); peak 2019-10 with 2,532Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023population +6% (2,495 → 2,658); median income +60% ($45,096 → $72,273); renters 19% → 31%; median home value +38% ($117,200 → $161,700)Census ACS 5-year
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)relatively low overall (score 21.5); expected annual loss $751,371; high: winter weather; community resilience relatively highFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 kmnoneHUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 20231,099 establishments (-13%); 20,155 jobs (-1%)Census CBP
Housing market in the countytypical home value $310,918 (+4% 1 yr, +37% 5 yr); typical rent $1,551/mo (+3% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
House price index, tract, 2025413 (2000 = 100); +9.0% 1 yr, +82% 5 yr, +123% 10 yrFHFA
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)28,135 vehicles a day on CENTRE AV (principal arterial, 4 lanes); 2,448 trucks; 40 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Fairgrounds Square Mall opened in 1980 with Boscov's and JCPenney as anchors, expanded in 1988 and renovated in 1996. After several ownership changes, the interior closed in 2018, demolition began in 2020, while some tenants remained open, and the site is slated for housing, hotel, retail, and park redevelopment.

Why. The record shows anchor losses such as Montgomery Ward’s closure in 1999 and notes a tax incentive from Muhlenberg Township, but does not explicitly state competition, debt, or other causes for the mall’s decline.

Where it stands. The mall is closed with demolition underway as of 2020, and Hull Property Group is the current owner.

For a planner

  • Precedent: planned mixed‑use redevelopment including housing, hotel, retail, and park.
  • Policy tool: tax incentive from Muhlenberg Township supporting the redevelopment.
  • Open question: timing and phasing of demolition and construction.
  • Open question: how the new uses will integrate with existing traffic and infrastructure.

For a developer

  • Site control: Hull Property Group has owned the property since 2016.
  • Entitlement stage: strategy is redevelopment with proposed new uses of housing, hotel, retail, and park; planning notes mention townhomes, a hotel, and a restaurant.
  • Constraints: no flood‑zone, transit, or environmental data are provided in the record.
  • Market signals: tract‑level demographic or sales data are not included in the record.

What we do not know yet

  • Exact site acreage and current demolition progress are not specified.
  • Environmental constraints (floodplain, wetlands, contamination) are unknown.
  • Transit access and surrounding road capacity details are missing.
  • Market demand data for housing, hotel, and retail in the immediate tract are not provided.
  • The record is marked as “draft” verification, so some extracted facts may be unreviewed.

Generated by nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b on NVIDIA API via Hermes CT from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

  • Hickory Hollow Mall, Nashville, TN · Malls · opened 1978; closed 2019; same strategy: redevelop
  • CityPlace Burlington, Burlington, VT · Malls · opened 1976; closed 2022; same strategy: redevelop
  • Crossroads Mall, Oklahoma City, OK · Malls · opened 1974; closed 2017; same strategy: redevelop
  • East Town Mall, Green Bay, WI · Malls · opened 1982; closed 2021; same strategy: redevelop

Elsewhere on the web

Pages with photos

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

  • closed or demolished site (sourced)
  • county grew 3.2% 2018–23
  • housing in the record

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Opened1980Wikidata
Closed2018extracted, unreviewed
Stores at peak75extracted, unreviewed
Original developerHull Property Group, Interstate Propertiesextracted, unreviewed
AnchorsBurlington Coat Factory, Boscov's, Limerick Furniture
Organisations in Wikidata (undated)Hull Storey Gibson
CountyBerks County
Census division2 · Mid-Atlantic
NotesWikipedia categories: Demolished shopping malls in the United States

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, retrofit year. Know it? Tell us.

Background

Fairgrounds Square Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located just north of Reading, Pennsylvania in Muhlenberg Township. It was anchored by Boscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, and Limerick Furniture. Smaller stores included Super Shoes, Planet Fitness, an AMC Classic movie theater, and Golden Eagle Comics. The mall, which once had 75 stores, had 14 stores and many vacant storefronts before it closed in 2018. It was located on 5th Street Highway

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

  1. 1965 Boscov's opened as freestanding store adjacent to speedway
  2. 1980 Opened (Wikidata)
  3. 1980 Mall officially opened with Boscov's and JCPenney as anchors
  4. 1988 Mall expansion added several stores and Phar-Mor
  5. 1996 Mall renovated, Montgomery Ward built as third anchor
  6. 1999 Montgomery Ward closed; mall sold to Jager Management affiliate GP Properties Inc
  7. 2005 Burlington Coat Factory replaced National Wholesale Liquidators; Jason's became Super Shoes and Planet Fitness
  8. 2013 Mall sold to BNY Mellon for $13.6 million in US Marshals auction
  9. 2016 Hull Property Group took over mall with plans to revitalize
  10. 2018 Interior of mall closed; 12 tenants remaining
  11. 2020 Demolition of mall began

Sources

  • found by hermes-web (staffboxfree) · supports: after notes, original developer, public subsidy, status, strategy, year closed
    20 quoted sentences
    On April 30, 2018, Hull Property Group closed the interior of the mall.
    The Fairgrounds Square Mall was developed by Interstate Properties
    Boscov's, Burlington Coat Factory, AMC Classic, Super Shoes, Planet Fitness, Baja Beach Tanning Club, and Quest Diagnostics remained open after the mall closed.
    On April 30, 2018, Hull Property Group closed the interior of the mall.
  • found by hermes-web (staffboxfree)
    1 quoted sentence
    Owner | Hull Property Group

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