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  • What you need to know about SEPTA’s bus route changes

    What you need to know about SEPTA’s bus route changes

    The first phase of SEPTA’s bus network overhaul begins Aug. 23, and Brandon Miller is mobilizing hundreds of employees for a final push to meet face-to-face with riders in the days leading up to the changes and during the first week after they take effect.

    “It’s a blitz,” said Miller, manager of planning programs at SEPTA, describing discussions at “pop-ups” as an effective way to help people navigate the new network.

    “This is the evolution of the ‘Bus Revolution,’” Miller said.

    Unlike some transit agencies, SEPTA has not done a comprehensive redesign of its bus network in its 58-year history. The agency has publicly pushed to do so since 2021, but change was delayed by opposition, political wrangling, and, later, a two-year fiscal crisis.

    Originally the “Bus Revolution” was supposed to happen all at once, but SEPTA ultimately decided to phase in changes to routes.

    The process has been quieter this time around.

    Dan Nemiroff, SEPTA’s director of city service planning, , said people are more open to the need for changes, especially after SEPTA had to shut down bus routes last year because of a budget deficit. A court ordered those cuts reversed, and the agency later received an infusion of cash from PennDot.

    “I think there’s more willingness to accept the fact that … we need to make the bus network a little bit more efficient,” Nemiroff said. “We need to make the system more attractive for people.”

    In the first wave, 30 routes will be affected in some way.

    Some routes with low ridership or that duplicate nearby service will be eliminated. Others will be extended or run more frequently, and two new routes will be added.

    What routes will change?

    New and expanded routes: Route 72, a new crosstown bus running along Cheltenham Avenue, and the new Route 76 bus from Columbus Commons to Rising Sun and Olney. Route 45 will be extended to provide service to the Navy Yard, and Route 79 will be extended from South Philadelphia into University City.

    Eliminated routes: 35, 47M, 62, 78, 80, 89, and 106.

    I have specific questions. How can I ask SEPTA?

    There will be a Zoom session on Aug. 19 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Register here to attend.

    Miller said the talk is informally called “back-to-school,” with more discussion of the changes’ effects on students than in previous meetings.

    SEPTA has a webpage dedicated to Phase One changes, as well as an overview of the New Bus Network.

    Riders can call SEPTA customer service at 215-580-7800 or email specific questions to planning@septa.org.

    I want to talk to someone in person.

    Beginning Monday, street teams will conduct “pop-up” visits at key transit hubs at various times between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

    Next week, visits will include South Broad Street and Snyder Avenue, Cedarbrook Plaza, Hunting Park Station for changes to Route 53, Spring Garden Station, and Willow Grove Mall.

    Staff are also attending community events.

    When will changes happen?

    The majority of changes will take effect Sunday, Aug. 23, followed by the Route 105 extension and elimination of Route 106 on Monday, Aug. 24.

    What areas are most impacted?

    How can I find alternative routes?

    SEPTA’s website provides alternative routes. Look up your route here.

    What other changes are planned?

    Phase 2 changes are planned to begin in February.

    Phase 3 changes are planned to begin in June 2027.

    Phase 4 changes are planned to begin in Fall 2027. Many details are still being worked out.

    Why redesign the bus network?

    SEPTA launched its bus redesign efforts in earnest after ridership declined 13% from 2013 to 2019, a drop attributed to slow speeds, reliability problems, and competition from ridesharing companies. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Bus ridership rebounded faster than it did on other transit services, but SEPTA’s thinking is that simplifying the network will make it easier to use, with more frequent service on fewer or shorter routes.

    Will bus stops be changed?

    Stops will disappear during the first phase on routes that are eliminated, but there will be no wholesale changes yet.

    Philadelphia had the shortest median distance between bus stops of any large U.S. city as of 2021, at 564 feet. Pittsburgh’s median distance was 623 feet, while Chicago’s was 673 feet.

    Having more stops per mile provides access to more people, but closely spaced stops can also slow buses and make them less reliable.

    Early plans for Philadelphia’s bus network redesign aimed to “rebalance” stops by spacing them farther apart to improve speed. But the idea has been unpopular.

    SEPTA may revisit the issue later.

    More questions about the New Bus Network?

    Email transportation reporter Thomas Fitzgerald at tfitzgerald@inquirer.com.

  • These nonprofits called the shuttered Exton mall home. Now, some are struggling to relocate.

    These nonprofits called the shuttered Exton mall home. Now, some are struggling to relocate.

    Cristina Hartley watched her teenage son go from refusing to say more than two lines on stage to taking on the lead role in two performances, thanks to the confidence he built through theater production nonprofit Arts and Athletics Club.

    Now, Hartley, who serves on the organization’s board, is worried about what the future holds for the all-ages theater group. The nonprofit, formally founded in 2019 after starting as a high school senior project, was based for roughly four years in the Exton Square Mall, and lost its space when the mall closed its doors in June. The group has struggled to find a new home and will be forced to take a hiatus until a new location is secured.

    “The arts are always the first program to be cut out of schools, and there’s always a lack of budget to have that in schools or to expand these programs in schools, and we want everybody to have access to anything art-related, whether that’s drawing or trying to sing or trying to perform,” said Hartley, who has been involved with the nonprofit for six years.

    “We know that there’s a space out there. There’s a landlord out there willing to work with a small nonprofit. We just haven’t found it yet,” she said.

    The Arts and Athletics Club’s interior at the Exton mall. Finding a space for it to hold its productions and activities has been a challenge, leaders say.Photo courtesy of Arts and Athletics Club

    The roughly 1 million-square-foot Exton Square Mall closed June 30 amid a legal dispute between the property’s owners and local officials over plans for redevelopment. That squabble is still in court.

    For years, the mall declined from traditional retail, with only a handful of stores left when it shuttered after five decades. It was Chester County’s only enclosed mall.

    But even as the mall’s staples dwindled, other organizations — nonprofits, a robotics club, a fencing center, and more — occupied the space, drawing what business leaders said was significant foot traffic.

    In June, those still left at the mall received notice that they would have to be out by the end of the month. For nonprofits like the Arts and Athletics Club without robust budgets to quickly relocate, the abrupt end put them in a bind.

    The Arts and Athletics Club was in the midst of two productions when its leaders learned they would have to vacate, said Chris Hutelmyer, executive director. They took June to move their things out, depositing belongings in people’s garages, and started the real estate hunt in July.

    The two performances, Oh Happy Day and Twisted Tales, went on, albeit under changed circumstances, with one held in a park. After holding a summer bash Saturday, the organization will be on hiatus until it finds a space, Hutelmyer said.

    The mall had been perfect for the group. An old Aéropostale served as its mini black box theater for four years. The former clothing store had no windows, which worked well for staging 10 productions each year, and it was accessible with ample parking. There were bathrooms, dressing rooms, and storage space. And it was a central location for its all-ages community, accessible from Malvern to Downingtown to Coatesville.

    The cast of “Twisted Tales” poses for a photo. Arts and Athletics Club, primarily a theater production nonprofit, has struggled to find a new facility since the Exton mall’s closure in June. Its last production was held in a park, and it hasn’t been able to run a show since.Photo courtesy of Arts and Athletics Club

    Trying to find a comparable space for the Arts and Athletics Club within East and West Whiteland Townships has proved difficult. But its leaders said they want to stay in the area, continuing to provide programming for participants from ages 7 to 70. The mall was the organization’s first permanent location, after performing in parks, libraries, and other community spaces.

    The theater group, which offers its programming for free or little cost, has a limited budget for renting or altering a space to fit its needs. Another challenge has been finding an available location that is the right size: about 1,800 to 3,000 square feet of open space.

    Group leaders have looked at retail locations, warehouses, and churches, and investigated partnering with community centers.

    “We’ve been striking out pretty much everywhere that we’ve been looking,” Hutelmyer said. “It’s just been hard to find a direct match for what we need.”

    It was a similar scramble for the Wardrobe, a nonprofit thrift store that accepts and sells secondhand clothing and also provides free clothes to those in need, after having to abruptly move out of the Exton mall.

    Racing to find a new space to avoid laying off any employees, executive director Sherri Cole enlisted a real estate agent, she said, but struggled to find something affordable that also hit the right marks.

    “Everything had to go out of the mall; it’s not like we could be like, ‘OK, we’ll go dark and we’ll move things when we find a new location,’” Cole said.

    The old exterior of the Wardrobe, a clothing store that accepts donations and gives clothes to those in need for free, in Exton mall. The business will open its new location in Malvern in the fall.Photo Courtesy of The Wardrobe

    By early July, the Wardrobe secured a pop-up location in the Plymouth Meeting Mall.

    And this month, the nonprofit found a new, permanent home in the Lincoln Court Shopping Center in Malvern, about a 10-minute drive from the old Exton location. Cole anticipates the store will open by October.

    The interior of The Wardrobe’s former Exton mall location. The nonprofit, which has called the mall home for the last few years, struggled to find a new location in Chester County after the mall shuttered in June.Photo Courtesy of The Wardrobe

    Still, for both the Wardrobe and the Arts and Activities Club, it was hard to lose the Exton mall.

    Out of the Wardrobe’s five locations in the Philadelphia region, the Exton mall location was its second-largest site for foot traffic and retail sales last year, Cole said.

    It proved that people would still show up to a “dead” or “dying” mall if there was something they needed, Cole said. And it was meeting a need.

    “There need to be spaces in the suburbs where everyone feels welcome, and often, the class divide in the suburbs is really stark,” she said. “It’s great that we’re able to find something that is still within the Exton, Malvern neighborhood where we can be providing these services, because even within the suburbs, poverty is really often overlooked.”

    For Hutelmyer, still searching for somewhere for the Arts and Athletics Club to land, it was sad to see a community space like the mall go.

    Housing a constellation of community organizations, the mall “wasn’t what people really expected it to be,” Hutelmyer said.

    “But as it transformed into the community space, at least while we were there, it was still serving a lot of good, and I think that not being there is a big loss for the community,” he said.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Our favorite restaurant sundaes | Let’s Eat

    Our favorite restaurant sundaes | Let’s Eat

    We know how to truly cap off a restaurant meal: a decadent ice cream sundae. Here are seven we love.

    Also in this edition:

    • Home cooks make the menu: Your first look at Recipe Philly, a $3.8 million restaurant with a novel concept opening in Center City.
    • Craig LaBan review: Terra Grill in Northern Liberties.
    • News: Read on for word of new restaurants in Queen Village and Kensington, and word of a Michelin-recommended restaurant’s expansion.

    — Mike Klein

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    Our favorite restaurant sundaes

    What caps a meal better than a cool and creamy ice cream sundae? Hira Qureshi shares seven of these decadent treats found on restaurant menus.

    🍧 Two Philadelphia water ice makers locked down the top prizes at a water-ice festival at the Jersey Shore.

    A new restaurant where home cooks set the menu

    Here’s your first look at Recipe Philly, where home cooks — not pro chefs — contribute the recipes to create the menu. It’s also the basis for a reality series, filming now in advance of the restaurant’s mid-August opening.

    Why is Tattooed Mom not allowed to host live shows?

    Tattooed Mom has hosted countless drag shows and burlesque performances since it opened on South Street in 1997. But the city has shut down those events (but not the bar itself) over a missing assembly license. Getting one could take six months, its owner tells Beatrice Forman.

    River Twice is expanding

    River Twice on East Passyunk is expanding next door, and that means a real bar, more seating, and new opportunities to eat one of our favorite burgers.

    Craig LaBan reviews Terra Grill

    Critic Craig LaBan visits Terra Grill, a newcomer from globetrotting chef Laurent Tourondel in Northern Liberties’ Piazza Alta, where he found “a textbook chophouse vibe” and a “something for everyone” menu. Read on for his review.

    The best things we ate last week

    The food team caught up with a tasty chicken biscuit sandwich in Plymouth Meeting, hot dogs in Bella Vista, loaded fries in Northern Liberties, and a winning bowl of gyu-don from a food truck.

    Scoops

    Eggcetera Haus will replace the shuttered Redcrest Kitchen at Sixth and Bainbridge Streets, likely in the next few weeks. Husband-and-wife team Rey Tamaka and Vina Kencana will operate the all-day bar-restaurant. Tamaka, who spent the last six years as head chef at an Old City brunch restaurant, will oversee a modern American menu spanning breakfast, lunch, and dinner, while Kencana will manage operations. Breakfast will feature specialty coffee from Philadelphia’s Vibrant Coffee Roasters, with dinner service adding pasta, steaks, cocktails, and comfort food. Hours will be 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Queen Village/Bella Vista will get another all-day option next spring when Sabrina’s Cafe opens at Fifth and Bainbridge, down the block from mainstay Famous 4th Street.

    Sabrina’s Cafe — speaking of which — is behind a new venture aimed at the late-night crowd. Spence De Abreu, the 21-year-old son of Sabrina’s founders Robert and Raquel De Abreu, is hoping for a late-July opening of Big Spence’s, a sandwich operation at 1816 Callowhill St., a few doors from the Art Museum-area Sabrina’s. It will run via delivery services and pickup (no seating), offering six sandwiches at launch, with additional menu items expected over time. Initial hours will vary, with service planned as late as 2 a.m. during the fall, when college students are back. Opening is tentatively scheduled for July 29.

    Scampi, chef Liz Grothe’s Queen Village Italian-ish restaurant, has added a beverage program in partnership with Northeast Philly winemaker Camuna Cellars. The tie-in allows spirits and beer options from Pennsylvania producers, including Fell to Earth vermouthery. BYOB is OK, with a $15-per-bottle corkage fee. Scampi also has collabs planned for August: Percy (at Percy) on Aug. 21; Habibi Supper Club (at Scampi) on Aug. 23; and an Italian American pasta night with chef Wyatt Piazza at Kiddo on Aug. 30.

    Chimney Rustic Ales closed its brewery in Hammonton, N.J., in June 2025, in anticipation of opening in Philadelphia. Brewmaster/owner Dan Borrelli is seeing light at the end of a city-permitting tunnel, so he’s looking at a late-2026 opening at 2153 E. Lehigh Ave. in Kensington. Borrelli said this location will have a full kitchen and a chef (to be named later) serving what he calls “elevated bar food, with some seafood mixed in.” Borrelli had a seafood truck called Minnow Seafood Co. “We’re not trying to earn a Michelin star,” he said. “We just want to serve food that’s a little more upscale than you’d typically find at a brewery or neighborhood bar.” He specializes in lagers but also offers IPAs — because “they make up about 60% of the market, so you kind of have to have them.”

    Restaurant report

    Schmaltz, a new arrival in Point Breeze, is drawing long lines with latkes, blintzes, and a craveable breakfast sandwich.

    Chibanos has opened at the former Effie’s in Washington Square West, and Delco-raised owner Evan Fong Jaroff expresses his Chinese-Cuban background through pressed sandwiches, fried yuca, flan, and croquetas. Beatrice Forman tells a fascinating story of food and culture.

    Call Your Mother, the D.C. bagel-sandwich chain, has signed a third Philly lease before the first shop even schmeared its first bagel.

    EMei’s Dan Tsao is taking over a fourth landmark restaurant location — the home of Old Original Bookbinder’s — as part of the Sichuan restaurant’s ambitious expansion.

    Briefly noted

    Townsend on East Passyunk Avenue has been closed since early May after extensive water damage from a fire next door. Chef/owner Tod Wentz has swung part of the French menu to Oltremare, his Mediterranean seafooder at 2121 Walnut St. “Townsend at Oltremare” offers a hybrid menu from Townsend executive chef Alex Nissley through at least the end of the summer.

    Baby’s Kusina & Market in Brewerytown returns Thursday, two weeks after a plumbing issue caused a flood. One change: Dinner service has been paused for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, Baby’s will do a popup at 11 a.m. Monday at Farina Di Vita (250 Catharine St.) with a roast pork adobo sandwich.

    Hop Sing Laundromat (1029 Race St.) is pricing all cocktails at $12 for the summer, discounted from $17-$21; it’s open from 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.

    ❓Pop quiz

    Local bartenders have been foraging recently for what prized ingredient to make amaro?

    A) black walnuts

    B) wormwood

    C) rhubarb root

    D) truffles

    Find out if you know the answer.

    🚗 Winners! Last week’s quiz asked you to guess how many miles Craig LaBan put on his car while scouting restaurants for his Jersey Shore dining package. We had a tie — the total was 1,034 and two readers guessed 1,000, so I ordered a runoff. Jan D. of Norristown submitted “1,005” (29 miles under) while Ed H. of Philadelphia offered “1,066” (32 miles over). What’s 3 miles among friends? I’m sending Inquirer swag to both, along with my sincere thanks for reading.

    📖 Catch up with Craig’s Shore favorites here.

    Ask Mike anything

    Please update us on a couple of bakeries, like Manna near Norris Square and Del Buono’s, where McMillan’s was in South Jersey. — Scot T.

    Saif Manna, adding a brick-and-mortar location at 110 W. Berks St. in Kensington, is aiming for a soft-opening of Manna Bakery tomorrow, followed by a grand opening on July 30. Meanwhile, the PR machine is revving up for the opening of Del Buono’s, in a partnership with Al DiBartolo’s custom-cake studio DiBartolo’s Kakery, at 15 Haddon Ave. in Haddon Township’s Westmont section. Soft opening is planned for mid-August, with an Aug. 29 grand opening tied to Haddon Township Summer Music Festival.

    📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

  • The best things we ate this week

    The best things we ate this week

    The Maddie J at the Biscuit Lady

    Two great new moves by Tara Finder at the Biscuit Lady’s Plymouth Meeting location: later hours on weekends (till 8 p.m. for dine-in or takeout) and a chicken biscuit sandwich that’s only available after 2:30 p.m.. The Maddie J is 5 ounces of crispy fried chicken juiciness, a slice of American cheese, and a swipe of house Buffalo sauce. There’s a huge crunch and a zingy kick, but keep your plate handy because the light, flaky biscuit can barely contain all that goodness. It’s the perfect late-day counterpoint to morning specialties, such as the smash burger with bacon, fried egg, and jalapeño pimento cheese (Don’t Go Bacon My Heart) and the cheesesteak riff with ribeye, Cooper sharp, egg, and onion (the Stella). The Biscuit Lady, 115 Plymouth Rd., Plymouth Meeting, 484-243-6957, visitthebiscuitlady.com

    — Michael Klein

    Three weekly specials from Royal Tavern’s July-only hot dog menu. From left: a fried Diamondback Dog wrapped in bacon with salsa and beans, an Old Bay Bomber topped with Old Bay macaroni salad and crab, and Barrel It Up The Bronx topped with onion sauce and brown mustard.Craig LaBan / Staff

    Dog Days hot dog specials at Royal Tavern

    If you grew up in a hot dog culture like I did, devouring every Coney I could find in metro Detroit, the snap of the natural casing on Royal Tavern’s bespoke wieners is a flashback revelation. The Bella Vista bar’s third annual Dog Days of Summer event is in full throttle through the end of July, and they’re not serving skinless franks — the industrial norm — here. The taut-yet-delicate resistance on these artisanal links unleashes a savory rush of meaty juice, the pureed pork-beef blend harboring a balanced soupçon of coriander, garlic, and applewood smoke.

    Royal Tavern chef Nic Macri — whose butchery chops are still intact from his charcuterie run with La Divisa at Reading Terminal Market — began Dog Days two years ago as a labor of love to boost the bar’s typical summer doldrums. He ended up selling over 5,000 dogs that first July, then 7,000 in 2025, limiting it once again to the month due to the logistical challenge of transforming his small kitchen into a temporary frankfurter factory. This year, the restaurant aims to hit 10,000. To do so, Macri has turned to Happy Valley Meats to co-pack its proprietary recipe with responsibly-raised meats.

    But the creative challenge is still considerable: Four new preparations are unveiled every Monday for five weeks, pairing different techniques (steamed, chargrilled, fried, griddled) with an array of flavor toppings. No modifications allowed. I was charmed by the Baltimore-themed picnic of a dog last week topped with Old Bay macaroni salad and a scoop of fresh crab. But the purist in me kept returning to the Bronx-inspired steamer topped with saucy onions and brown mustard that still allowed that quality link to shine. There will be new cast of dogs next week themed to the World Cup, then a final quad dog bracket to bring it home, culminating in all 24 returning July 31 to celebrate a month of memorable wiener studies. The chef insists it will then be time to return to the fall programming of burgers, smoked beef, and fish sandwiches, no matter how much I plead our case: If Macri hasn’t turned Philly into a true hot dog town by then, no one can.

    Royal Tavern, 937 Passyunk Ave., 215-389-6694, royaltavern.com

    — Craig LaBan

    Loaded fries at El Sazón R.D., 1030 N. Second St.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Loaded fries at El Sazón R.D.

    El Sazón R.D. in Northern Liberties only serves three things: smash burgers, empanadas, and fries — all with a Dominican twist. Luckily, it does them extremely well. The smash burgers have a crisp, lacy edge and come topped with queso de freir, a fried slab of slightly salty white cheese that elevates the sandwich from just a burger into something I’d wait in line for.

    The limited menu’s true hero, however, are the loaded fries. The dish is a decadent play on salchipapas — a street food ubiquitous across Latin America that combines fries with cut-up hot dog links — that comes with cubes of queso de freir and two hefty drizzles of tangy mayo-ketchup. The franks are juicy enough that they pop in your mouth, while cubing and frying the white cheese basically renders them into delectable cheese curds. Beware, though: These fries are very heavy, a meal in and of themselves that I often have to follow up with a nap. El Sazón R.D., 1030 N. Second St., 917-920-1316, elsazon-rd.com

    — Beatrice Forman

    Gyu-don at Haha’s Kitchen, a food cart that typically parks at 471 N. Seventh St. in Spring Garden.Kiki Aranita /

    Gyu-don at Haha’s Kitchen

    When Shikoku, Japan, native Shiho Utsunomiya first came to Philadelphia in 2000 and tried a Philly cheesesteak, she exclaimed, “This is a gyu-don! Well, the meat is anyway.” Eighteen years later, she began serving a chipsteak-based gyu-don at her food truck, Haha’s Kitchen (“Haha” means “mother” in Japanese), which typically parks in Spring Garden. The $10 bowl has tremendously tender beef, laced through with sweet, slow-cooked onions and decorated with a neon pink crown of pickled ginger. Served over steamed kokuho rice, it’s decadent and filling, and perhaps one of the best lunch deals in town.

    It’s also a marvel to watch Utsunomiya doing absolutely everything in the cart, from taking orders to preparing a large menu that encompasses American lunch standards like Italian sausage and hot dogs to chicken karaage, onigiri, and of course, this magnificent gyu-don. The best part of lunch may be witnessing how her cheerful but fierce independence comes to bear in the small kitchen. Utsunomiya worked at the now-closed Hikaru in between bearing and raising children, “but it’s very difficult to have kids and work in a restaurant kitchen,” she said. You should also grab one of the $3.50 tuna mayo onigiri for later. Generously sized and lovingly made, it tastes like a Japanese mother tucked it into your lunchbox. Haha’s Kitchen, 471 N. Seventh St., instagram.com/hahas_kitchen

    — Kiki Aranita

  • Real estate ‘pit bull’ Marc Kaplin says Exton Square Mall pushback is an ‘anomaly’

    Real estate ‘pit bull’ Marc Kaplin says Exton Square Mall pushback is an ‘anomaly’

    Marc Kaplin takes “pit bull” as a compliment when it’s used to describe him. The longtime real estate lawyer who has championed property rights for developers in the region takes it to mean “aggressive, prepared, knowledgeable.”

    He’s using that tenacity right now in court, battling over whether his client’s plan to redevelop the recently shuttered Exton Square Mall into a mixed-use town center can go forward despite the town supervisors’ denial.

    For decades, Kaplin, 82, has been behind dozens of regional development projects, with clientele spanning the Delaware Valley, into the Lehigh Valley, the Poconos, Delaware, and New Jersey.

    Kaplin’s interest in real estate law kicked into high gear when his family moved to Blue Bell in 1978, near Wings Airways. It was still “a prairie” with little development, he recalls. The airway owners wanted to expand the runway, challenging the township’s ordinance. He was hired by a group of neighbors to oppose it.

    Marc Kaplin, a real estate powerhouse, talked to The Inquirer about the Exton mall redevelopment project and more.Courtesy of Marc Kaplin

    That led to his role as township solicitor for Whitpain Township in Montgomery County in the early 1980s. Eventually, he moved into development: First working for his landlord, Bud Hansen of Hansen Properties, which became one of the biggest developers in Montgomery and Chester Counties.

    When Toll Brothers started, Kaplin was there. He’s represented the home construction company for more than 40 years. Other clients, like retail developers Wolfson Group, have also spent decades alongside Kaplin.

    With the closure of the Exton mall, and his client’s proposed redevelopment plan still in the courts, Kaplin spoke with The Inquirer about the downfall of the indoor mall, the challenges of building more affordable housing, and the rise in AI data center development.

    This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

    You’ve worked in the city and the suburbs. Where is it easier to get projects done?

    They’re both extremely difficult and getting more and more difficult for different reasons.

    Philadelphia, if you don’t have a by-right project, you’ve got to go to the neighborhoods, the RCOs [registered community organizations]. You got to spend a lot of time, and it’s more political and satisfying people, than it is complying with every small [thing].

    Not only do you have to make sure that all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed in the suburbs, you got to know what to look for.

    There’s often community pushback in development projects. What are you hearing now when communities oppose a project?

    Just seems like everybody is against almost everything for a variety of reasons. Everybody complains about traffic. That’s the biggest thing. It’s ‘We’re here, we live here, we don’t need any more stores. We don’t need any more of this or that.’ But a lot of times you get a mixed bag.

    Now the Exton mall, we got very good reception to the Exton mall. It’s only a small group of people who are against the redevelopment of the Exton mall.

    Does the pushback to Exton Square Mall feel representative of larger trends in the region?

    It’s an anomaly for a project like that. When you look at the malls that are in really bad shape, townships are reaching out and want them redeveloped. Montgomery Mall. Plymouth Meeting Mall. Some over in New Jersey. I’m working on the Berkshire Mall up in the Reading/Wyomissing area, and we’re getting tremendous cooperation.

    These malls are 1,500-pound gorillas. They killed tax base, millions and millions of dollars that were coming in before. … I can’t give you a logical reason why two supervisors in West Whiteland are putting up this fight. I’m waiting for a judge to make a decision.

    We’re pretty optimistic that we’ll be able to go ahead, but it ain’t over until it’s over.

    You’ve been quoted as saying ‘indoor malls don’t work,’ but we are seeing some success in King of Prussia and Cherry Hill. What do you think sets them apart from places like Exton mall?

    They are the super regional malls, and they do work, and Simon controls many, many of them. They work, but the Plymouth Meeting Mall doesn’t work, the Exton mall doesn’t work, the Willow Grove mall doesn’t work, and many, many more.

    There’s a whole long history of why that’s so. There were, in the ’60s and ’70s, department stores we no longer have: Wanamakers, Strawbridge’s, Snellenburg’s, and on and on. … And then you had J.C. Penney and Sears, and it was much easier way back then to get three large anchors. Then the Kmarts came along, and the Walmarts, the big boxes that didn’t have all of the infrastructure. The common operating expenses are much less, because you have all interior halls — heating, air-conditioning, and all that.

    Members of the Strawbridge family explore the old Food Hall on the first floor of the former Strawbridge & Clothier department store site on the north side of the 800 block of Market Street Dec. 17, 2019.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
    Why do you think Main Street at Exton, a mixed-use shopping center that opened in the 2000s, has been such a success?

    Because it’s run by the best operator around. That’s my client, Steve Wolfson. It’s had a[n] … anchor for now over 20 years.

    In Exton, there was about a 10-year period when there were two supervisors who were against everything. So you didn’t see a great deal more development, but the Main Street at Exton used the new urbanist approach 22, 23 years ago and made huge improvements to the roads. There are great roads there, and it was right in the path of development.

    Are there any cases or projects that have shaped Chester County as we know it today?

    Exton has always been called the crossroads of Chester County. You’ve also got the Hankin Group that has done all the development in Chester County. … You had very big companies come in — Vanguard — and you had good school systems and relatively decent roads. I think it’s just the continued outward development from Philadelphia.

    Many suburbs are facing affordable housing crises. How do you predict municipalities will overcome NIMBYism when it comes to those projects?

    It’s a very, very, very difficult problem. There are very few places in the entire country where it’s been solved. New Jersey has the most extensive program in the country to cause the development of affordable housing … that’s really the Mount Laurel doctrine, and where the townships are required not only to make affordable housing available, but also to make it happen.

    The market cannot create affordable housing without governmental help. Just can’t be done. It’s not enough land. Regulations are enormous, expensive.

    It’s a societal problem that can’t be solved just by municipalities and homebuilders and homebuyers.

    Do you think all of the proposed data centers will actually get built?

    I’m involved in a couple of data centers. … At first the communities were dead set against more warehouses, particularly up in the Lehigh Valley, and then when this particular community heard ‘data center,’ they were ecstatic — for a whole variety reasons: very little traffic, very few people in schools, high-paying jobs, and now there’s this national swell attacking data centers.

    The data centers we’re seeing now, in one fashion or another, are creating their own energy. So my own particular opinion is that it’s just blown up, overblown, over-exaggerated, and we’re going to need all this computing power as we move into the next technology age.

  • AristaCare at Meadow Springs is keeping patients in-house for a lung procedure that used to require a transfer to a hospital

    AristaCare at Meadow Springs is keeping patients in-house for a lung procedure that used to require a transfer to a hospital

    AristaCare at Meadow Springs, a Plymouth Meeting nursing home that specializes in patients who need ventilators to help them breathe, has started doing a key lung procedure in-house that used to require patients to be transferred to a hospital.

    The effort is part of a broad trend in healthcare to provide more care outside of hospitals, which are the most expensive sites of care.

    Meadow Springs’ goal in doing the lung-clearing procedures in-house is reducing the number of times its residents are hospitalized, the facility’s administrator Rob Nealon said.

    Keeping residents in the facility benefits Meadow Springs financially even though it doesn’t charge for the treatment because it doesn’t lose revenue to hospitals, Nealon said. It’s also better for residents to avoid difficult transitions and long hospital stays, he said.

    The treatment, called a bronchoscopy, uses suction tubing with video to go deep inside a patient’s lungs to clear out secretions and mucus plugs that make it hard for ventilator patients to breath, said Lejoy Mathew, respiratory director for the facility.

    The nursing home with 153 licensed beds has the capacity to care for 72 people on ventilators.

    AristaCare did its first bronchoscopy in February and has done four more since then, Mathew said.

    Patients who are dependent on ventilators often have a chronic respiratory disease, neuromuscular or neurodegenerative diseases, or traumatic brain injuries.

    The company, based in Cranford, N.J., also owns AristaCare at East Falls, another ventilator facility it acquired in 2024, and plans to start doing bronchoscopies there as well. The East Falls facility has 66 beds.