Jun 4, 2025 By Jon Andreassi 2 min read

In an effort to facilitate a sale of the Washington Crown Center mall, North Franklin Township supervisors will consider a zoning change that would allow for additional uses.

At a May 27 meeting, the township planning commission voted to recommend that elected officials establish a light industrial redevelopment overlay district at the mall, according to Erin Dinch, the township’s director of planning and development.

“It changes the permitted uses. There were some uses that you would have to go through a zoning hearing board to be able to do that here,” Dinch said.

She added that those uses include wholesale distribution, light manufacturing, self-storage facilities and trucking terminals.

Bob Sabot, chair of the North Franklin board of supervisors, said when supervisors take a vote at their June 10 meeting they plan to limit those uses. The board is unlikely to allow self-storage or trucking facilities to be part of any redevelopment.

“There are things the supervisors will not stand for down there,” Sabot said.

While Washington Crown Center is presently owned by New York-based Kohan Retail Investment Group, Sabot said that a potential sale is in the works.

“The new ownership of the mall is in progress. I can tell you that, but I can’t really tell you a whole lot more,” Sabot said Tuesday.

North Franklin Township’s code officer has filed more than 700 citations against Kohan for various issues at the property.

However, Sabot said they have placed a “moratorium” on those fines in hopes the fixes would be part of a sale.

“Our main goal in citing it is trying to get it fixed, not trying to make money,” Dinch said.

Sabot hopes that a sale can be completed in the next three to four months, and that Crown Center would continue to be a space for retail business.

“I would describe our position on this as gleeful. This is going to be good for the community and good for the residents, but we got to let the process work its way through here,” Sabot said.