I have gotten at least one phone call every week for the last couple of years to ask me if I've heard the rumor that the Granite Run Mall had been sold.
It's not longer a rumor. Yesterday it became reality.
The sprawling shopping mecca built on an old stone quarry out on Baltimore Pike at Route 352 in Middletown was sold in a competitive bidding process for $24 million.
Almost an interesting is who bought it. That would be Bruce Toll, through a company he owns called BET Investments. The selling price was $24 million.
Here's what we know: The group is planning what they're calling a "walkable mixed-use project" that would include both retail and residential.
Here's what we don't know, at least not yet: What does this mean to the mall and the current stores that are there, including anchor stores such as Boscov's, JC Penney and Sears. There is also a free-standing Kohl's and an AMC Theater on the site.
My first thought when I heard the news yesterday was my friend Margaret Kuo, whose outstanding Peking Restaurant was there on Day One in 1974 when the mall opened. It has been an icon on the Delaware County dining scene ever since, and Kuo has expanded her dining empire with restaurants in Media and Wayne. Her son operates a restaurant in Frazer, Chester County.
We'll be looking to get answers to some of these questions today.
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