Cherry Hill Mall hints at new tenant

CHERRY HILL - The curtain lifted Monday night — but only slightly — on a mystery tenant likely to occupy an expanded site at the Cherry Hill Mall.

An "international fashion retailer" is expected to open by autumn 2017 in  a space created in part by a planned 5,000-square-foot addition to  the Macy's wing, according to a representative of the mall's owner.

MEMORY LANE: The birth of the Cherry Hill Mall

But the merchant wants its name to be kept secret at this time, said Nancy Kilpatrick, a development director for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust.

Kilpatrick spoke Monday night before the township's planning board, which unanimously approved the mall's plan. The addition will be combined with existing space that will be made available by moving current tenants, she said.

"This tenant has a footprint of about 26,000 square feet, so that's a hard space to fill," she told the board. "Therefor we need to bump out (the mall).

She described the merchant only as a retailer of apparel and accessories "for men, women and children."

The expansion would extend into a parking lot near a current H&R Block outlet, but shoppers would enter from inside the mall, said Richard Goldstein, an attorney for the shopping center.

BACKGROUND: Cherry Hill Mall to expand for tenant

Goldstein said the expansion was minor compared to the center's 1.3 million square feet of leasable space.

But he said the project was "quite significant" to the mall's management.

"It becomes incumbent to attract the most appealing, cutting-edge tenants," he said.

Goldstein noted the mall still has growth plans, saying it hopes eventually to develop two pad sites to hold a restaurant and a specialty retailer.

Jim Walsh: (856) 486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com