Luxury apartment living has arrived at Moorestown Mall.
The 375-unit Pearl Apartments complex has opened in a section of what was once the mall’s parking lot, and more than 90 units have already been rented.
The investment by Bel Canto Asset Growth Fund marks a new phase for the mall, which has lost major department-store anchors Sears, Lord & Taylor and Macy’s in recent years, as well as other retail tenants. PREIT, the mall’s owner, has filled some of the space with outward-facing stores like HomeSense and Sierra, along with Cooper University Health Care, which opened a campus there in 2023.
“Here in Moorestown, we are transforming an underutilized parking lot into homes, bringing new residents to this part of town and strengthening an important part of our tax base,” Moorestown Mayor Quinton Law said at a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday. “That is smart and responsible growth.”
A major selling point for Law and other elected officials is that 75 of the apartments are designated as affordable housing. Jennifer Nevitt, CEO of Bel Canto, said the company has received more than 6,000 inquiries about those units.
Bel Canto, a privately held firm from Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, was formed by Nevitt and Philadelphia attorney Thomas Leonard to develop, acquire and hold assets for the Leonard Family Trust. It manages more than $1 billion of assets nationwide, including Botanica Cottages in Limerick, Pennsylvania.
Nevitt, an Indiana native from Pennsylvania, said she has visited Moorestown Mall for years to go to Rizzieri Salon & Spa and saw potential in the unused property there. Bel Canto bought the property from PREIT in 2022 and broke ground last year.
The complex offers more than a dozen floor plans, each with names honoring the founding families of Moorestown. Monthly rents range from $2,300 for a 538-square-foot studio apartment to $5,399 for a 1,410-square-foot apartment with three bedrooms and a study. The property has a parking garage, pool, fitness center, yoga studio, game lounge, coworking area and a podcast studio. Move-ins begin in October, with all units expected to be available by May 2027.
“For a long time, Pearl Apartments was an idea. A vision discussed in meetings, refined through plans and drawings, and advanced by people who believe this site could become something meaningful for Moorestown,” Leonard said at the ribbon-cutting. “Today, that vision has become real. We are standing at the beginning of a new community and at the threshold of a new chapter for this property.”
