Marshalls, health club eyed for MacDade Mall

*From: April 30, 2010 Delaware County Daily Times news article*
By BARBARA ORMSBY
Times Correspondent

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP — Redevelopment of the MacDade Mall is on the agenda for the township, according to a report at a recent commissioners meeting.

Commissioner Dave White said the developer is putting together drawings for the mall that would include a Marshalls, a health club and a major pet store. A Sonic drive-in restaurant, which is part of a national chain, is planned for the front of the mall, near Ruby Tuesday.

White said the Acme supermarket at the Glenolden end of the mall, and the K-Mart, which is in the township, will remain.

A call to representatives of MacDade Mall Associates LP for comment was not returned. The last of the retail establishments that had been tenants in the mall moved out last December. A Citizens Bank branch remains at the mall.

White cited other economic boosts for the township, including the 137-room, all-suites hotel now under construction on the Industrial Highway, between Sellers and Stewart avenues, scheduled for completion in August. The Springhill Suites Hotel is part of the Marriott Hotel chain and is the first hotel for the township.

Also, redevelopment of the old Penn Hills Apartment complex is scheduled to begin in about two months. White said 30 buildings in the 44-building apartment complex will be torn down and 49 single-family dwellings will be built, a combination of town houses and apartments.

In other matters, it was announced that notices will be sent to property owners who are not in compliance with the township’s property maintenance code.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, commissioners heard a plea from Danby Paterson of Eddystone for support of the effort of a group of Eddystone residents who are working to keep Camden Metal & Iron from locating a metal-shredding facility in that borough.

She said there is no fence that will keep toxic airborne material from coming into the township.

Paterson spoke of fires that have occurred at other metal-shredding operations, citing a fire a few years ago in the pile of junk cars at the foot of the Platt Bridge in Philadelphia that sent smoke wafting over parts of the city.

“The building we are standing in (municipal building) is just within a three-mile radius of Camden Metal & Iron,” Paterson said.