Planners Debate Sketch Plans For Shuttered Cinema In Doylestown Twp.

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Township planners in April will tour the site of the shuttered Regal Movie Theatre at the Barn Plaza on Route 611 as it considers plans by the Brixmor Property Group to redevelop the site with 41,300 square feet of new retail and restaurant uses.

During a review of sketch plans for the former cinema site last week, planners said they’d like to see more vision put into the plans, which call for the demolition of the former theater and its fabricated silos and the construction of three new multi-tenant, mixed-use buildings.

Sketch plans show the three new standalone buildings built mostly on the footprint of the former cinema, facing toward Route 611 and extending the new modernized shopping center facade through the former cinema site.

Building B located at the south end of the cinema site and closest to the existing shopping center will add 9,600 square feet of new restaurant uses to the site, including a major bar and grill and a well-known burger establishment. It will include a drive-through and an outdoor dining patio.

Building C, measuring about 28,000 square feet, will include several “prominent retail tenants” that will complement the Whole Foods Market, which opened its doors earlier this month.

And Building D at the far end of the site will be home to a drive-through coffee shop and two retail tenants.

After reviewing the layout, planner Judy Hendrixson zeroed in on the orientation of Building C suggesting that there might be ways to take advantage of the views along a wooded area and creek at the rear of the property.

“The view of the creek and the woods there is really quite nice," said Hendrixson. “I could see that as open space, outdoor dining, in a park-like atmosphere. It’s really very pretty right there. It’s a shame to just turn your back and put the services (loading, unloading, trash receptacles, etc.) back there.”

Another planner suggested the idea of nudging the entire project toward Route 611 to add a walkway along the creek at the rear of the property.

“It just bothers me that it’s just service back there and not taking advantage of what’s attractive about this site,” said Hendrixson.

William Greimel, vice president of redevelopment for Brixmor, said a patio area is planned for Building C that would provide some views of the woods and the creek.

“I wish you every success but I’d like to see something a little more creative with the site. It feels very utilitarian to me," said planner Michael Kracht. "I’m not saying the buildings are ugly. It’s just all asphalt and buffer trees and circulation routes - pretty much what we have today. I hate to go through all this process and not have something that when you drive by you say, ‘Wow. They really did a nice job there.'

"Maybe a walking path along the creek. Just enough to distinguish it from every other strip shopping center that you see up and down 611," he continued. "That would be of interest to me. Again, I wish you every success," he told Brixmor. "I was worried for you when I saw stores closing there. But I’d like to see a little more vision. And I don’t think it will cost that much money with hardscape and softscape.”

Added Hendrixson, “The thing that’s nice about this property is you have something nicer to look at than a parking lot. To open up that view (to the woods and creek at the rear of the property) would be a real amenity,” she said.

The challenge, said Brixmor officials, is that in order to attract tenants to the site they want the Route 611 visibility, they want signage and they want parking.

One of the planners asked, “What happens if you flip all the buildings and orient them toward the creek?”

“That hasn’t been successful. Tenants want their visibility and walk-in from the front. And we need to be able to secure the tenants otherwise it’s not going to happen and it won’t be sustainable,” said Greimel.

Hendrixson said she wasn’t thinking about opening up the entire viewscape, but just enough to provide a view of the nearby woods while tying it in with pedestrian walkways that are being planned.

Township planning consultant Judith Stern Goldstein pointed out that the nicer shopping centers have unique and interesting places for pedestrians to walk “so you park once and walk as opposed to moving your car. That’s what’s not nice about this shopping center. There isn’t a pleasant walking experience. And that’s something people are looking forward to in the future having a much more pedestrian-oriented experience.”

Planner Robert Repko wasn't seeing the vision shared by his colleague on the board regarding the viewscape at the rear of the property.

“I don't have a recollection that the wooded area is all that great to look at," he said. "My recollection is one of brambles, overgrowth and vines. I don’t necessarily have the same perspective on this. But if you really want to talk about this, maybe we should go out to the site and take a gander ... Finding that balance might be worthwhile if we went there and looked at it and talked about it versus everyone trying to imagine it separately in their minds."

Regal closed its Barn Plaza cinema location in early 2023 after the nationwide movie theater chain declared bankruptcy and began shutting down operations across the nation. The closure of the movie theater left the shopping center without one of its major anchors.

The redevelopment of the former cinema site is part of a broader multi-million-dollar project that also included a major upgrade to the facade of the shopping center and the construction of a new Whole Foods store and a new Barnes & Noble store at the former site of Marshall's and Home Goods.

The new Barnes & Noble store opened in early September. And the new Whole Foods store opened earlier this month.