The End of Franklin Mills?

The story that’s been kicking around on Phillyblog for a while now finally hits the newspapers today, in the Northeast Times no less: Is Franklin Mills for sale? Specifically, is the Mills Corporation going to sell it to a developer who’s looking to turn it into a residential site?

We assume everything on the Internet is fake, even when it doesn’t involve Wikipedia, but the Mills Corp. official Northeast Times writer William Kenney contacted don’t comment on the rumors — “I’ve seen the blogs, and I’m not going to comment on that.” — which can only mean that, well, hey, maybe it is for sale.

This would seem like an odd move, especially since Mills Corp. once touted the Northeast Philadelphia shopping mecca as Pennsylvania’s largest tourist attraction, but the company is in the middle of an upheaval. And, hey, if you can’t build condos (or townhomes) across from a school for kids with run-ins with the law and a giant bus depot, where can you build them?

The main fun in the Times story, though, is its extensive quoting of posts on Phillyblog. For example:

The blogs Douglass was referring to are “topic” discussion threads in the “Northeast Philadelphia” and “Business” sections of the PhillyBlog site. ¶ A “blogger” identified as “robot” started the first major topic on the subject on March 1 under the heading, “franklin mills closing?” ¶ In his post, the author stated that he didn’t believe the rumor, but he was curious to know if anyone else had heard the same thing. Also, he claimed that his wife’s family considered it a done deal.

The “writer” of the Northeast Times (a “newspaper”) story goes on to “say” that, while another “thread” speculating about the “sale” of Mills has been “posted” on Phillyblog, a store in the “Steve & Barry’s chain” recently moved in to the formerly “vacant” anchor spot at the “east” end of the “mall.”

Will this be the end of the ESPN Skatepark, the movie theater John Street frequents and a giant Ben Franklin head in the center of it all? Will the white kids with baggy, low-riding jeans have to go to (gasp) Neshaminy Mall? If there’s a developer interested in the Mills site, wouldn’t it be cheaper (and more sensible) to go after the almost-vacant Knights Road shopping center just down the street? Only time will tell.

Is Franklin Mills Mall on the market? [Northeast Times]
Related editorial: Franklin forever! [Northeast Times]