By Lance Knickerbocker

Tredyffrin officials last week approved an $85m plan to raze and resurrect the Chesterbrook Shopping Center. The new design from Goodwin Architects includes substantial mixed-use residential development and enlarged commercial spaces.

Activity at the Chesterbrook Shopping Center declined over the last decade.  According to a report in the Philadelphia Business Journal the decline was  due to stores moving to newer developments and the recession adding more empty storefronts to the center. From the Philadelphia Business Journal:

“The economic downturn was the final nail. The recession wore on and Genuardi’s vacated in 2010 its 38,502-square-foot store. Some of the other retailers closed up and many of its vacancies were never re-leased. A total of 78,960 square feet was empty and 21 of its 41 store fronts were vacant at the time Whalen’s partnership bought the property last fall.”

Construction on the new “Chesterbrook Village Shopping Center” is likely to begin before the end of the year.

Read the entire Philadelphia Business Journal story here.