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A shopping center that sits in two local municipalities is looking to freshen up and welcome a new tenant.
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The company that owns the Pennsbury Plaza shopping center off West Trenton Avenue and Plaza Boulevard in Falls Township and a portion of Morrisville Borough is looking to make changes.
Representatives for the shopping center came before the Falls Township Zoning Hearing Board Tuesday to make their plans known and request variances.
ARD Pennsbury, which has owned the shopping center since the mid-part of the last decade, is proposing knocking down about 6,000-square-foot of the strip mall in the center of the shopping plaza to construct a new 9,000-square-foot space for Dollar Tree.
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Dollar Tree is a chain of dollar stores that operates more than 15,200 locations.
Eastburn and Gary attorney Julie Von Spreckelsen, who represented the developer, said the vast majority of the shopping center where improvements are planned is in Falls Township section of the property.
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Pennsbury Plaza has seen numerous retail vacancies in recent years as stores have competed more and more with online sellers. The vacancies have left the shopping center in need of revitalization, Von Spreckelsen said.
A representative of the shopping center told zoners any tenants who would be displaced by the planned demolition of the existing storefronts can be relocated to empty storefronts at the shopping center at no cost to the business.
The shopping center owners were granted variances by the Zoning Hearing Board to permit the shopping center building separation of 16.3 feet rather than the minimum required 20 feet; to permit 194 parking spaces rather than the required 358 parking spaces; and one related to signage.
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Von Spreckelsen said the variances were needed because the shopping center was designed and constructed decades ago when the ordinances were different.
The shopping center began suffering troubles about a decade ago when it lost several tenants, including Sears Hardware. It has seen some updates and the addition of a Plant Fitness gym as its anchor tenant.
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The plans presented this week will have to go through the land development process and go up for approval by the Falls Township Board of Supervisors and Morrisville Borough Council due to the shopping center being in both communities.
Dan Miles, the zoning hearing board chairman, said it was his last meeting and told the public he hopes his time on the body was helpful.
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