The New Economy Comes to Granite Run Mall?

The Granite Run Mall in Media, Pennsylvania was completed in 1974. A massive, million-square-foot facility spanning across two levels, the mall was the epicenter of my childhood: the site of my seventh birthday party (at Aladdin's Castle); the venue for annual Cub Scout/Boy Scout expositions and Pinewood Derby races; the source for Atari, Nintendo, and Sega games and gear as they emerged; the place where family would gather and wander, and buy each other gifts; the destination for so much of our teenage lives. It always seemed like the cool kids spent their time at the mall. 

The mall was completely renovated in 1992: the decor that featured wooden handrails and three areas with ornate fountain displays were removed, to reside now only in memory. The center court featured a large and circular metal sculpture, around which fountains sprayed and lights danced. The two postcards below are the few representations of the mall's original interior found on the Internet. Note the globe light posts, the painted skylight edges, and the towering palm trees! 

The year after I graduated from Sun Valley High School in Aston (1998), Granite Run changed hands, purchased by the firms Macerich and Simon Property Group-- both property investment firms, each with existing assets in the billions, and histories of suburban and urban shopping plaza development that stretched back into the early 1960s. Macerich and Simon teamed up to buy Granite Run, hoping the mammoth cavern would perform similarly to the rest of their extensive portfolio. 

By February of 2011, Simon and Macerich let payments on the property's multimillion-dollar mortgage lapse. By April of that year, the property was sold to Madison Marquette, another property management corporation, with tens of millions of square feet of holdings. Despite initiatives to renovate the parking lot, the interior, and to curb the increasing vacancies taking place, Madison Marquette sold the property to BET Investments in the fall of 2013; the property will continue to be managed by Madison Marquette, while BET-- a Delaware-County-based firm managed and owned by Bruce Toll-- contemplates potential uses for the massive property.

In general, the fate of the mall is uncertain: is small-scale retail still an effective model? To sell candles, cell phones, compact discs, or pretzels? All of these items were still available at various stores, on a 10/16/13 visit to Granite Run, with my parents. Though the Delaware County Daily Times reported the occupancy to be at 88% at the time of the 2013 sale, I'd reverse that: one in ten storefronts seemed to have someone, or something, going on. The place was, sadly, a ghost town. 

 Madison Marquette promotional material, on an illuminated sign. 

 View from the elevator, in the center court.