Community Corner

Opposition Quiet During PREIT Tele-Town Hall

Virtually no voices were raised in opposition to the mall owner's plan during Thursday's teleconference.

Despite the controversy the issue has ignited in town, a teleconference hosted by PREIT (Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust) Thursday to answer questions about November’s liquor referendums passed without incident and virtually no voices raised in opposition.

PREIT president Joe Coradino answered questions from residents for roughly 30 to 40 minutes, ranging from whether the addition of restaurants at the Moorestown Mall would hurt downtown establishments to potential security concerns at the mall (should alcohol-serving restaurants open there) to his promise to pay $4 million for liquor licenses.

Coradino that PREIT is prepared to pay $1 million each for four licenses at the mall, noting the company has “corporate authorization” to be able to make the purchase.

Some have cast doubt on PREIT’s $4 million promise—given that the township has not even decided on a license price (should the referendums even pass)—but Coradino reasserted the company’s claim Thursday.

“I’m an officer with a public company. My word is important. My reputation is important,” he said. “At this point, I want to recommit we are going to pay $4 million for the sale of four liquor licenses.”

He noted the $1 million investment for each license is double what a liquor license sold for in Cherry Hill earlier this week, according to the Courier-Post.

Approximately 4,200 Moorestown households—all registered voters with listed phone numbers—were given the opportunity to be on the call, according to Chris Russell, spokesman for Property Tax Relief for Moorestown, the citizen arm of PREIT’s campaign. Only 650 were on the call.

Several residents chimed in with questions, including one woman who expressed concerns about security issues arising at the mall should alcohol-serving restaurants open.

Citing numbers from Allied Barton Security, which provides security protection at the Cherry Hill Mall, Coradino said security issues have decreased 50 percent there over the last three years. He also said PREIT pays Cherry Hill $60,000 extra a year for additional police coverage at the mall and would do the same in Moorestown if necessary.

Coradino made a number of other statements during the tele-town hall call:

  • Moorestown Mall’s vacancy rate (30 percent) is triple the national average. Some have disputed PREIT’s vacancy claims, citing a Securities and Exchange Commission report seemingly reflecting a lower number. Coradino said the number on the report includes the vacant, but rent-paying, Lane Furniture store, as well as seasonal shops.
  • If the referendums don’t pass, PREIT has not decided whether it will proceed with improvements to the movie theater.
  • All the restaurants will be in the mall facing Route 38.
  • PREIT already has commitments (again, if the referendums pass) from three restaurants, which will be announced in the next couple weeks.

Though a handful of residents on the call expressed concerns about or questioned elements of , the majority of those who chimed in expressed their support for the company’s strategy.

One older woman, who said she and her husband have lived in town all their lives, said she thought the opening of restaurants serving alcohol at the mall was a “great” idea, adding, “Over the years I’ve gone to a lot of these house tours, and as I go to these house tours and these fancy houses, they all have full bars in their homes and big wine cellars. So people are buying it … I don’t know why they don’t want to buy it in the township. I think it’s a little ridiculous they’re trying to say it’s a dry town because Moorestown certainly is not a dry town.”

Edmond George, vice chair of the township’s Economic Development Advisory Committee, said the lifting of the liquor ban and the addition of alcohol-serving restaurants to the mall is “from an economic standpoint … a no-brainer.”

George noted the township’s master plan, adopted in November 2009, suggests the idea of adding liquor licenses at the mall in light of residents’ concerns about alcohol being sold on Main Street—reflected in voters’ 2-1 rejection of a similar referendum in 2007.

Though there was very little—really none at all—naysaying on the call, Coradino ended it by criticizing those responsible for some of the vitriolic discourse surrounding the issue.

“It’s really unfortunate our opponents have resorted to personal attacks on blogs and anonymous legal opinions,” he said. “It’s not how this ought to be done.”

Though Coradino leveled his critique at the anti-liquor crowd, in truth there has been a fair amount of acrimonious language originating with the pro-liquor camp as well.

Coradino said he would be attending the Autumn in Moorestown festival Saturday and invited those with questions or concerns, including the opposition, to speak with him there.


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