King of Prussia Mall expansion taking form

The final steel beam for the shell of a massive new corridor housing dozens of new stores and restaurants and connecting the Plaza and the Court at King of Prussia Mall will be erected Tuesday.

The 170,000-square-foot retail extension is part of an expansion that began a year ago to add 50 retailers, including nearly two dozen luxury brands, more restaurants, and a dining pavilion. The two-year project is set for completion in the fall of 2016.

The enlarged mall, already the second-largest in the country, will cover almost three million square feet, with 450 stores and restaurants. That's quadruple the size since King of Prussia opened its doors in 1963 as a 725,000-square-foot open-air shopping center.

The new corridor is the mall's eighth major expansion and renovation, and the most significant since 2012, when the former Wanamaker's building in the Plaza was demolished and converted into two stories of shopping space covering 100,000 square feet. That space is occupied by the largest Forever 21 store in Pennsylvania, and large H&M and Steve Madden stores.

"We will hit a milestone on Tuesday, that for the first time ever, the two parts of King of Prussia will be unified," David Contis, president of Simon Property Group,the mall's owner, said in an interview Monday. "The steel will be completed. King of Prussia will no longer be two separate parts."

Among the high-end stores that will lease space in the new retail corridor are CH Carolina Herrera; Robert Graham; Clarins; Vince; and Stuart Weitzman. Additional tenants will be announced soon.

CH Carolina Herrera is a luxury lifestyle brand featuring chic clothing for men, women, and children, along with accessories and travel items; Robert Graham is an American-based luxury apparel retailer offering eclectic styles for men, women and children; Clarins is a French luxury cosmetics company specializing in skin care, makeup, and perfume; Stuart Weitzman is a designer of women's shoes and handbags; and Vince is an American fashion label specializing in everyday luxury essentials for men, women, and children.

Also, five of the mall's luxury stores - the names of which have yet to be announced - will take advantage of the new space by relocating and expanding into flagship stores.

Finally, mall anchor department stores Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, and Macy's are adding new entrances to integrate into the additional retail space and will be attached to the new parking lot.

Contis, who declined to disclose the project's price tag, and other Simon Property executives will be at the mall Tuesday for a tour to mark the midconstruction point. Now the project moves to the second phase, with the interior and exterior finishes.

The latest mall extension is being built above ground, rising two to three stories in the air over a few parking lots.

Parking and access roads will be located underneath it. However, the existing walkway between Neiman Marcus and Macy's will be renovated and will remain.

The mall's old parking deck was recently demolished and replaced by a 1,001-space parking deck. The deck is in the middle of the mall connected to the expansion area.

King of Prussia has been upgrading its food offerings the last few years and will continue that with the expansion, Contis said.

For example, Grand Lux Cafe, an upmarket chain offering a wide-ranging American menu and owned by the Cheesecake Factory, opened this month.

A cafe court is planned for the middle of the expansion, featuring three or four casual dining and al fresco restaurants. Their names have not been announced.

"We're working with someone in the Philly area to create a restaurant dining marketplace," Contis said. The marketplace will measure about 20,000 square feet.

Contis said the mall is getting new signage that will include directions through the complex for shoppers.

At a recent retail conference in Philadelphia, analyst Garrick Brown of real estate consulting firm DTZ called King of Prussia "a trophy mall" with its size, location, and demand among retailers. He said the expansion will add to its standing as one of the nation's premier malls.

The mall now employs about 7,200 people, with about 700 more expected to be hired by the end of next year. When the expansion is finished, the mall will measure 2.86 million square feet, second in the United States only behind the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., which covers 4.2 million square feet.

The two-year expansion has created 400 temporary construction jobs and given a big economic boost to Montgomery County, Contis said.

"We have a very broad customer base," the Simon Property executive said. "The demographics and psycho-graphics are really great, ranging from luxury to popular, all things to all people. It's one of the few malls in the country that can say that."

Mike Bowman, president of the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board, said the bigger mall will "entice visitors to visit our other attractions, like Valley Forge National Historical Park, Elmwood Park Zoo, and Spring Mountain Adventures."

Brown, the DTZ consultant, said malls such as King of Prussia have virtually no vacancies and therefore can increase retail rents from 5 percent to 10 percent a year.

"Everyone wants to be there," he said.