When Jose Pinargote was considering where to open a new Puerto Rican restaurant, he looked at the 25th Street Shopping Center and saw several empty storefronts.
He also saw potential.
“It almost drew me to the location more. I saw it as an opportunity,” said Pinargote, who co-owns Pints & Pies in Wilson Borough. “I used to drive by there all the time and think, there’s a great location that’s just been vacant. I looked it at as, ‘It’s time to rebuild it.”
But Pinargote is not alone in betting on the 25th Street Shopping Center, signaling fresh life at the aging plaza. In the span of about a month, three new restaurants announced they would open there: the Lehigh Valley’s second Wing Stop, a new Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, and Pinargote’s restaurant Adobo Latin Kitchen. With these announcements adding to an existing lineup of eateries like Jimmy’s Hot Dogs and McDonald’s, the strip mall is making a move as a revived dining destination.
“It’s going to benefit that whole shopping center,” said James Balliet, president of the James Balliet Commercial Group, which leases the center. “It’s going to drive traffic that may not have ever shopped there.”
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The half-century-old shopping center, just off Route 22 in Palmer Township, could use the boost. Despite its visible location along a major highway, the center’s occupancy dipped in the last decade as it faced newer retail hubs like nearby Palmer Town Centre, which opened just down South 25th Street in 2005 with draws like Giant and Home Depot.
In March 2006, the 25th Street Shopping Center had a 95.5 percent occupancy rate, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As of January 2016, just 73.3 percent of its space was full. Visiting the shopping center today, you’ll see seven empty storefronts among the roughly 35 units. (It’s currently anchored by Petco and Dollar Tree.)
In a competitive market, Balliet said bringing in top tenants that will thrive in the shopping center has required a proactive approach.
“We went after the corporate entities directly to pitch the space we had available,” Balliet said. “It’s not a situation where you just hang a sign and hope they come.”
Although the corner space now filled by Wing Stop was empty for more than two and a half years after the previous tenant, Maryland Fried Chicken, closed, Balliet said the gap wasn’t for lack of interest. Pinargote, for one, was first drawn to the shopping center with hopes of putting Adobo Latin Kitchen in that unit. But Balliet wanted to hold out for a national brand that would help anchor the strip mall.
Ken Lynch, who is planning to open the new Dickey’s in a freestanding building at the shopping center in early March, said that the empty storefronts aren’t ideal.
“Vacancies are never comfortable,” Lynch said. “You kind of want to be the last one to take a spot in a thriving strip mall.”
But Lynch said he couldn’t beat the easy access off Route 22, and he was comforted by the fact that other restaurants had flourished in the spot for years.
Plus, some of the vacancies weren’t for economic reasons. Dickey’s is taking over the space formerly occupied by the Muscle Maker Grille that closed after one of its owners was targeted in a drug and weapon raid in 2015.
“It’s not like business after business was going into this location and just failing,” Lynch said.
Lynch and Pinargote agreed that the diverse food selection will allow restaurants to benefit each other.
“You’re not going to eat Wing Stop five days a week, and you’re not going to have Dickey’s five days a week,” Lynch said. “You’re going to bounce from place to place.”
Pinargote, who plans to open Adobo Latin Kitchen on March 1, believes the rush of new restaurants to the shopping center has to do with the wider buzz around the Easton and Palmer area.
He said new businesses were encouraged by redevelopment projects such as the planned Da Vinci Science City museum and aquarium in Easton and the renovation of the old Dixie Cup Factory in Wilson into apartments. And as the Easton’s continuing downtown revitalization draws people to the area, spots along major area routes can expect to share in the spoils.
“The Easton area’s starting to feed into that,” he said, “and grow together.”
Andrew Doerfler may be reached at adoerfler@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @adoerfler or on Facebook.
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