The JCPenney store at the Granite Run Mall just beyond Chester County’s eastern edge on Highway 1 will not stay shuttered long after it closes this spring. Owner BET Investments plans to rush in with a wrecking ball and replace the struggling shopping site with an upscale town center boasting a pair of multi-story apartment complexes, retail stores, restaurants and a theater, according to a Daily Local News report.

Starbucks, a bank, pizza shop, and several movie operators are said to be interested in the two-year redevelopment project, and current mall anchors Boscov’s and Sears will stay.

“Please make this work, Mr. Markman,” Middletown Township Council Vice Chairman Norman Shropshire said of BET President Michael Markman in the article. “Our township needs this; our residents need this.”

The council is currently rezoning the site for the residential apartment use while BET works on a preliminary design.

Read more about the project’s history and process moving forward in the Daily Local News here.

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Top Photo via Monika Heinrichs