Moorestown Planning Board gives final approval for 375 apartments, parking garage at Moorestown Mall.

Final plans for a 375-apartment and parking garage complex on a corner of the Moorestown Mall parking lot were approved on Thursday night by the Moorestown Planning Board.

Board members voted 9-0 in favor of the plan, which is part of the overall transformation strategy for the financially struggling mall by owner Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT).

Earlier this month, the Planning Board voted unanimously to approve plans by Cooper University Health Care to construct its largest ambulatory center in the former Sears space in the mall. The healthcare provider estimated that about 200 employees would be employed over three floors in the center.

Under the plan for the apartment complex, applicant Bel Canto Asset Growth Fund LLC, which develops and manages multifamily projects and is based in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, will provide 75 affordable-rent units within the complex. 

Bel Canto stipulated that the 75 affordable units would be spread throughout the facility, rather than clustered together.

No members of the public commented on the final plan.

The apartment complex, called Pearl, on 6.24 acres at the southeast corner of the mall property, near Nixon Drive, is expected to be completed in 2023, according to Bel Canto documents filed with the Township. The plan includes a five-story parking garage connected to the apartment buildings.

A redevelopment plan for the mall was adopted by the Township Council in August and a financial agreement that includes a 30-year tax exemption for the completed 375-unit apartment project was adopted by the Council on October 25. In lieu of property taxes, the agreement requires a service charge based on 12.5% of the development's gross revenue payable every year over the life of the 30-year agreement.

» READ MORE: Cooper's largest ambulatory center approved for Moorestown Mall by town's Planning Board.