Tesla’s Plans For Lehigh Valley Mall Supercharger Station Stall

Tesla Motors Inc. has scrapped plans to build a supercharger station at Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall Township.

Township commissioners approved the project in August and Tesla hoped to begin welcoming motorists last fall, but couldn’t get around a roadblock put up by J.C. Penney, according to Mayor Ed Hozza Jr. and a PPL Corp. spokesman.

The station was slated for property in the parking lot west of the Grape Street mall entrance near J.C. Penney. In order to supply the station with power, PPL needed to run an underground electrical line through the lot, a section of which is owned by the department store.

J.C. Penney rejected the utility’s request for an easement to put in the line, PPL spokesman Paul Wirth said Tuesday. PPL proposed an alternate route for the line, but hasn’t heard back from Tesla on how to proceed.

Read more:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2015/02/tesla_lehigh_valley_mall.html

J.C. Penney Stores In York, Chambersburg Among 39 Closing

The JCPenney at York Galleria will close for business around April 4.

Sarah Holland, JCPenney spokeswoman, said via email that the York Galleria store is one of 39 locations nationwide that will close. Throughout Pennsylvania, JCPenney is also closing stores at the Chambersburg Mall in Chambersburg, Susquehanna Valley Mall in Hummels Wharf, Granite Run Mall in Media and Nittany Mall in State College.

Holland said the closures are part of ongoing efforts to meet goals for company growth.

“We continually evaluate our store portfolio to determine whether there’s a need to close or relocate underperforming stores,” Holland said. “While it’s never an easy decision to close stores, especially due to the impact on our valued associates and customers, we feel this is a necessary business decision.”

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/business/ci_27281077/jc-penney-stores-york-chambersburg-close-according-report

Century III New Owner Seeks To Reverse Vacancy Trend With New Theater

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The owner of Century III is betting that a movie theater could help revitalize the struggling West Mifflin mall.

Las Vegas-based Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC, which bought the mall in May, said it is negotiating with two national chains with a Pittsburgh-area presence to open a first-run movie theater with stadium seating in Century III. Shawl L. Pryor, senior vice president of real estate, won’t name the companies because no lease has been signed.

Contending with a high vacancy rate, about 32 percent, and low foot traffic, the 34-year-old mall needs an entertainment component as part of its revitalization, Moonbeam said.

“We believe that it’s a very important aspect of why people go back to the mall. It’s not just to buy clothing anymore,” Moonbeam Chief Executive Officer Steven Maksin said.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5157496-74/mall-iii-century#ixzz2nGz6riE4
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J.C. Penney Outlet In Fairgrounds Square Mall In Transition To Broader Based Store

JC Penney is one of the three department stores at the mall. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The J.C. Penney Outlet, one the three anchor stores at the Fairgrounds Square Mall, is experiencing growing pains.

The store is transitioning to a new outlet store with a new name, JC’s 5 Star Outlet, and an expanded inventory of closeouts from various manufacturers.

For now, store manager Bob Williams wants to focus on one thing: letting customers know that the store is open for business with no plans to close.

“Last year, when J.C. Penney decided to get out of the outlet business, customers were led to believe that we would be leaving,” Williams said.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=390171

J.C. Penney Closing Stores – Dropping Catalog Business

Image via Wikipedia

I guess all good things come to an end.  J.C. Penney is getting out of the catalog business and closing all 19 of their catalog outlet stores.

This is possibly bad news for the Fairgrounds Square Mall, in Muhlenberg Township, which has a J.C. Penney catalog outlet store.  The store used to be a regular J.C. Penney and is one of the mall anchor stores.  The Fairgrounds location converted to the catalog outlet format in 1999. 

No closing date has been set other than it will be sometime in 2011 – 2012.  J.C. Penney would not say whether the store will close or convert back to a standard J.C. Penney retail store.

This would leave Boscov’s and Burlington Coat Factory as the remaining anchor stores in the event Penney’s pulls out of the Fairgrounds Square Mall.