Starbucks and others join shopping center line-up

By Erin Brodbeck
Collegian Editor
February 28, 2007

More progress has been made on the current plans for a shopping center that will be built on La Salle’s Good Shephard Parking lot.

La Salle officials estimate that within the next year, students and neighborhood residents can expect a strip mall in which they can get their morning caffeine jolt from Starbucks, serve their gaming needs at Game Stop and cater to optical necessities at America’s Best Eyewear.

“I’ll love being able to go to a Starbucks that is on campus,” junior communication major Aileen D’Alessandro said. “Students at La Salle will probably be frequent customers, and it will end up making a lot of money at that location.”

Upperclassmen aren’t as impressed with the addition, since they will have graduated by the time the stores open.

“I don’t really care about it because I won’t be here to enjoy it,” senior nursing major Angie Stenger said.

These three tenants have officially signed on with Moreland Developers, the company that is handling the project, and more are expected to jump on board.

La Salle signed a lease with Moreland Developers back in August 2006, and Moreland has since signed a contract with Fresh Grocer, a supermarket that will take up 50,000 square feet of the land allotted.

Moreland and Fresh Grocer are currently developing a marketing plan to lure more potential tenants, according to Director of Community and Economic Development at La Salle William DeVito.

“They are marketing the neighborhood as a unique urban center,” DeVito said.

With potential customers such as employees of Germantown Hospital, Einstein Medical Center and La Salle students, faculty and staff, marketers at Moreland are hoping that the location will appeal to many more retailers as well.

Moreland also considers the neighborhood residents, who have very limited retail options, to be ideal customers at the shopping center.

According to DeVito, construction will begin in the Good Shephard lot by June or July 2007, after a zoning board hearing in May. If all goes according to plan, DeVito anticipates the project to be complete within 12-15 months after the first shovel hits the ground.

brodbecke1@lasalle.edu