Business & Tech

Moorestown Mall Lands Another Restaurant

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill and Marc Vetri's Osteria, as well as the new Regal Cinemas theater, are expected to open during the summer of 2013.

PREIT has announced another new restaurant that will join Marc Vetri’s acclaimed Osteria during next summer’s Moorestown Mall renaissance.

The company, which owns the mall, announced Wednesday that Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, the second of four full-service restaurants planned for the mall, is slated for a summer 2013 opening.

Aside from its “upscale, casual interior,” the restaurant will also feature an exposed kitchen, an indoor stone fireplace, a wine wall and an expansive bar (dubbed a “Firebar”), according to a release from PREIT. Firebirds operates 23 other restaurants across the country, primarily in the Eastern United States. The Moorestown Mall franchise is the company’s first foray into South Jersey.

Firebirds' dinner menu features items such as lobster spinach queso, crab cakes, tenderloin kabobs, wood-grilled salmon, along with a number of steaks and other dishes. (To view the complete dinner menu, click on the attached PDF.)

A call to Firebirds central office was not immediately returned.

Firebirds is the second restaurant PREIT has landed following the passage of last fall’s liquor referendums. Vetri signed a lease with PREIT in September to open Osteria, which has garnered rave reviews since opening on Broad Street in Philadelphia five years ago. The mall location will be Vetri’s first outside the city.

Osteria is also slated to open this summer. Both restaurants will be situated inside the existing mall building.

PREIT spokeswoman Judy Trias said both Vetri and Firebirds are “eager and excited” to open.

“We’re excited that we’re making significant progress,” she said, adding that the summer 2013 timeline was mutually agreed upon by PREIT and the restaurants. “We’re not forcing them to push and accelerate their pace … The restaurants feel that timeline works for them.”

Trias said PREIT is far along in negotiations with a few different establishments to find the other two restaurants for the mall. She said it’s difficult to speculate on a timeline for when those announcements would be made, but that it wouldn’t come until next year.

The new Regal Cinemas theater is also expected to open in the summer. The United Artists theater has already been completely demolished and constructon of the new theater is expected to start soon. Trias said PREIT would like to open the theater and both restaurants all around the same time to make a big splash.

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"The acquisition of our liquor licenses has paved the way for transforming Moorestown Mall and the signing of these key leases is evidence of the progress we are making,” said PREIT CEO Joseph Coradino. "Restaurants have become a key component in creating a differentiated shopping experience offering our customers more options and reasons to come back more often and stay on site longer. We’re very encouraged by the traffic and sales productivity resulting from the addition of other high-profile dining venues elsewhere in our portfolio.” 

In addition to the news about Firebirds, PREIT also announced the acquisition of Corner Bakery, which signed a lease to open a location alongside Pei Wei by the summer.

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The mall has also recently added several new retailers, including Cotton On, The Walking Company, Body Central and Crazy 8, with more to come, said Trias. 

"Getting the restaurants, getting the theater open—it's all great for mall traffic," she said.


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