PREIT Continues Rejuvenation of Valley Mall with the Opening of New-to-Region Fashion Department Store Belk

Addition of Belk is part of the Company's proactive anchor replacement strategy

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Oct 17, 2018, 06:55 ET

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PREIT (NYSE: PEI) today announces the grand opening of Belk as part of the new updates in the transformation of Valley Mall in Hagerstown, MD – one of the Company's key suburban Washington DC assets. This new-to-region fashion department store underscores the Company's proactive diversification of its anchor store composition and its commitment to adding value at the high-quality assets across its portfolio.

Belk, a private department store company, will occupy 123,000 square feet in the former Bon-Ton space. In July 2017, PREIT announced the proactive recapture and replacement of Bon-Ton, which closed in February 2018. Just nine months later, Belk is opening having recently launched a new private-label beauty brand, Belk Beauty. Belk will offer apparel, shoes and accessories for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings, from top fashion designers and national brands.

As part of PREIT's commitment to strategic repositioning of key assets to elevate the quality of its portfolio, Belk joins newly introduced entertainment experience operator, Tilt Studio, and BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. Later this year, Onelife Fitness will join Tilt in occupying the former Macy's box in a total of 118,000 square feet, bringing differentiated and sought-after uses to the property.

Recently opened Tilt Studio offers 48,000 square feet of attractions, including rides, bowling, black light laser tag, black light golf, arcade games and space for parties, groups and private events. Tilt currently operates over 40 locations across the country, however this is one of only 12 Tilt Studio locations.

Onelife Fitness will open its third Maryland location at Valley Mall in December. In addition to its community-focused, amenity-driven club, this 70,000-square foot Onelife Fitness location will feature indoor and outdoor pools – further differentiating this property in the traditional mall landscape.

Belk will also be joining a dynamic mix of existing retail tenants at Valley Mall, including H&M, Pandora, Victoria's Secret and Justice, among others. The property also boasts an eclectic lineup of dining and entertainment offerings including Primanti Brothers, Mission BBQ, and Regal Cinemas, the largest stadium seating theater within 25 miles. In 2019, the movie theater will undergo a full scale renovation, further distinguishing the mall as a great place to socialize in Hagerstown.

"The opening of Belk at Valley Mall will bring an elevated shopping experience to our customers as we continually refresh and curate a mix of offerings appropriate for today's consumer," said Joseph Coradino, CEO of PREIT. "Across all of our properties, our strategic focus is led by our desire to enhance and diversify the mall experience for shoppers with elevated shopping, entertainment and dining options."

Valley Mall is well-positioned in the burgeoning Hagerstown community, with a growing population, key accessibility to major highways, and over 1,000 hotel rooms within a half mile. Attracting shoppers from four states – Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – it is the dominant regional enclosed shopping center in the region.

About PREIT
PREIT (NYSE: PEI) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and manages quality properties in compelling markets. PREIT's robust portfolio of carefully curated retail and lifestyle offerings mixed with destination dining and entertainment experiences are located primarily in the densely-populated eastern U.S. with concentrations in the mid-Atlantic's top MSAs. Since 2012, the company has driven a transformation guided by an emphasis on portfolio quality and balance sheet strength driven by disciplined capital expenditures. Additional information is available at www.preit.com or on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "may" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans, strategies, anticipated events, trends and other matters that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events, achievements or results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that might cause future events, achievements or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In particular, our business might be materially and adversely affected by changes in the retail and real estate industries, including consolidation and store closings, particularly among anchor tenants; current economic conditions and the corresponding effects on tenant business performance, prospects, solvency and leasing decisions; our inability to collect rent due to the bankruptcy or insolvency of tenants or otherwise; our ability to maintain and increase property occupancy, sales and rental rates; increases in operating costs that cannot be passed on to tenants; the effects of online shopping and other uses of technology on our retail tenants; risks related to our development and redevelopment activities, including delays, cost overruns and our inability to reach projected occupancy or rental rates; acts of violence at malls, including our properties, or at other similar spaces, and the potential effect on traffic and sales; our ability to sell properties that we seek to dispose of or our ability to obtain prices we seek; our substantial debt and the liquidation preference of our preferred shares and our high leverage ratio; our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness when it matures, on favorable terms or at all; our ability to raise capital, including through sales of properties or interests in properties and through the issuance of equity or equity-related securities if market conditions are favorable; and potential dilution from any capital raising transactions or other equity issuances.
Additional factors that might cause future events, achievements or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements include those discussed herein and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 in the section entitled "Item 1A. Risk Factors." We do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT:
Heather Crowell
SVP, Strategy and Communications
(215) 454-1241
[email protected]

SOURCE PREIT