It is hard to picture now, but back in 1982, a new kind of excitement buzzed along Mount Holly Road in Burlington Township, New Jersey.
Burlington Center Mall opened its doors, turning farmland and empty stretches into a magnet for shoppers across the county.
People came for Sears, Strawbridge & Clothier, and the food court, where weekends often began.
For anyone chasing down the best things to do in Burlington, NJ, during the 1980s and 90s, a stop here felt automatic. Now, all that is left is the memory—and something new rising from the rubble.
Commercial Foundations and the Early Retail Surge
Burlington Center Mall opened its doors in August 1982, a project brought to life by The Rouse Company out of Columbia, Maryland.
The site at 2501 Mount Holly Road was no accident—tucked right between major arteries like Interstate 295 and the New Jersey Turnpike, it practically called drivers in.
Two big names anchoring the place were Strawbridge & Clothier, which filled a 175,700-square-foot spot, and Sears, which covered another 145,000 square feet.
Almost overnight, County Route 541, which once rolled through fields and woods, started seeing gas stations, strip malls, and new housing projects pop up around it.
Inside, the mall adhered to a clean, functional plan.
It was two stories high and contained about 100 smaller shops. Skylights overhead bathed the wide corridors in natural light.
A fountain marked the center, and nearby stood Petal, a bronze elephant statue by artist Zenos Frudakis, installed the same year the mall opened.
For kids and families meeting up on Saturday afternoons, Petal was a landmark as real as any street sign.
The idea of an indoor shopping center still felt fresh, and crowds flocked to it looking for both necessities and little luxuries.
By the time the calendar flipped into the 1990s, Mount Holly Road had shed almost all traces of its rural past, and Burlington Center Mall had helped ensure this.
Retail Expansion and Ownership Changes at Burlington Center Mall
By the mid-1990s, Burlington Center Mall was ready to stretch a little further.
In August 1996, a new 103,000-square-foot JCPenney opened its doors, adding a third major anchor alongside Strawbridge & Clothier and Sears.
The mall’s two-level layout suddenly felt even more complete. A full circuit of national brands, local boutiques, and busy food court vendors offered the kind of shopping day that could easily eat up a whole Saturday.
Jager Management made a bold move in November 1999, acquiring Burlington Center Mall for $10.5 million.
The change in ownership gave the property new energy, at least on paper.
Inside, shoppers kept showing up, though subtle cracks in the retail experience started to show.
Some storefronts changed more frequently, and certain corridors lost their earlier crowds.
The mix of retail options held strong for a while.
Big names like Foot Locker and Bath & Body Works stuck it out, anchoring stretches of the mall with reliable foot traffic.
Seasonal pop-up stores around the holidays kept the halls looking lively when they needed it most.
Into the early 2000s, Burlington Center Mall still carried weight across Burlington Township.
Yet, under the surface, retail winds were already starting to shift.
Vacancy, Retail Departure, and Mall Closure
By January 2010, small cracks in Burlington Center Mall’s foundation had become something harder to ignore.
Macy’s—once Strawbridge’s and one of the mall’s cornerstones—announced it would close by March.
In June 2012, Moonbeam Equities bought the property at auction for $4.4 million.
The price tag alone hinted at how much the mall’s value had dropped in just over a decade.
Plans floated for a partial redevelopment: to tear down the old Macy’s and JCPenney stores and replace them with an outdoor shopping plaza.
That idea stumbled quickly. Sears, holding a critical lease over parts of the land, refused to budge on renegotiations.
Without their cooperation, construction never started.
Through 2014, JCPenney added to the mall’s troubles by shuttering its doors as part of a corporate-wide closure of 33 locations across the country.
That left Sears standing alone as the only remaining anchor.
The surrounding smaller shops tried to hang on, but foot traffic thinned out badly.
By summer 2017, most of the storefronts had gone dark, with a food pantry, arcade, Foot Locker, and Bath & Body Works among the few businesses still operating.
A burst water pipe in early January 2018 forced the mall to shut down two months ahead of schedule.
Sears, operating under separate ownership, stayed open a little longer but finally closed on September 2, 2018, as part of a larger corporate downsizing plan.
By then, Burlington Center Mall had no tenants left – only a sprawling, silent building complex facing the end of its era.
Demolition Moves and New Development Blueprints at Burlington Center Mall
By early 2019, the once-busy Burlington Center Mall sat hollow, waiting for its next chapter.
Clarion Partners and MRP Industrial stepped in that year, sealing a $22 million deal with Moonbeam Capital Investments.
The plan was clear enough: demolition and then a total rebuild shaped around new commercial demands.
Demolition crews rolled out in early 2021. They stripped down 800,000 square feet of aging retail space.
Skylights shattered. Familiar corridors disappeared under machinery and dust.
One by one, the structures that had framed weekends and holidays for decades gave way.
Petal, the bronze elephant statue that had anchored the mall’s heart since 1982, was moved with care to the Burlington Riverwalk, carrying a slice of the mall’s memory somewhere it could still be seen.
The Crossings name was added to the planning documents soon after.
Developers mapped out a sprawling 270-acre, mixed-use site blending industrial, retail, residential, and hospitality properties.
Three major warehouses, covering roughly 1.9 million square feet, would anchor the commercial side of things.
Raising Cane’s, Panera Bread, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Sleep Number, and Discount Tire lined up leases for new retail spots – a fresh lineup compared to the department store anchors of the past.
Infrastructure upgrades slid quietly into the project, too.
Roadways were widened, new utility grids were installed, and stormwater systems, often an afterthought in older developments, were fully overhauled.
Piece by piece, Burlington Center Mall was stepping aside for something built with different priorities, a different flow, and a much sharper eye on commercial trends heading into the 2020s.
Industrial Leasing, Retail Expansions, and a New Opportunity for Residential Living at The Crossings
In 2025, The Crossings is no longer only a massive industrial park stamped over the old Burlington Center Mall site.
It still leaned heavily into logistics—there was no question about that—but there were fresh signs of life pulling in around the edges.
Three warehouses, totaling more than 2.3 million square feet, had already gone up.
A fourth, around 210,000 square feet, was in the early prep stages.
Big names like Walmart and Maersk were locked in as tenants.
Two of the finished warehouses snagged LEED Silver certifications, signaling at least a nod to greener design.
Truck traffic moved in and out at a steady clip, tying Burlington Township even tighter to the busy supply chains running up and down the New Jersey Turnpike.
Retail hung on, but at a smaller scale than early plans once teased.
Near Mount Holly Road are a chicken finger restaurant, a bakery café, a frozen custard and burger shop, a mattress retailer, and a tire store, giving commuters and workers a few spots to grab coffee, burgers, or a quick tire swap.
The retail footprint stretches about 40 acres, with some spaces still open for medical offices, gyms, or other service shops.
Jefferson Apartment Group broke ground in January 2024 on a 500-unit apartment community named J Centra Burlington.
The project stacked one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and townhouses into 20 low-rise buildings, with pools, clubhouses, courtyards, and even a dog park folded into the design.
Twenty percent of the units were tagged for affordable housing, to ensure that longtime Burlington residents would not be priced out.
Hospitality crept back into the plan, too.
A dual-branded Home2 Suites and Tru by Hilton hotel secured approvals, and shovels are expected to hit the ground by the end of 2024.
About 150 rooms, plus conference space, were mapped out to catch the steady business crowd tied to the warehouses… and anyone passing through who wanted a clean bed.
By the end of 2025, The Crossings will outgrow the “warehouse park” label people had slapped on it early on.
It had grown heavier on freight and lighter on shopping bags, but was edging back toward a full mix – the kind that might have kept Burlington Township buzzing long after the last slab of the old mall had come down.
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As we live in Bristol Twp, Pa, just across the Burlington Bristol Bridge from the old Burlington Mall, there were many enjoyable shopping trips to the old Mall. Am looking forward to the opening of The Shops at the Crossings and, again, enjoyable shopping trips
Thank you for sharing your fond memories of Burlington Center Mall. It’s heartening to hear from locals who have cherished remembering the old mall and are excited about the new one.