BENSALEM, Pa. — Whole Foods Market has signed a lease for a store on the Neshaminy Mall site, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported Monday, citing an industry source, two days after the mall closed for good.

The store, built from the ground up, would be the first tenant to commit to the site’s redevelopment, the Business Journal reported. The owners expect to submit their plans to Bensalem Township in mid-November and could begin demolition by the end of the year, Maurice Zekaria, a principal of Paramount Realty, told the paper.

Whole Foods did not immediately respond to the Business Journal, and Zekaria, whose firm owns the site with Edgewood Properties, declined to comment on prospective tenants.

A May 2025 sketch plan in a Paramount marketing document showed space for a 30,000-square-foot Whole Foods, LevittownNow reported in October.

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What stays, and what comes down

Boscov’s, the AMC theater, Barnes & Noble and the Jean Madeline Institute beauty school have outside entrances and will stay open while the plans go through township approvals, Zekaria told the Business Journal.

The owners’ demolition plan calls for knocking down parts of the former Sears and Macy’s stores and the rest of the closed mall, the paper reported. Demolition would happen in phases, Zekaria told the paper.

The plans call for stores along with homes, entertainment, offices, restaurants, medical space, and service and convenience businesses, Zekaria said. The housing needs township approval, he told the Business Journal.

The township’s review

When the plans would come before the township has not been announced. The township Planning Commission, which reviews land development plans, meets Wednesday, Nov. 18, and Wednesday, Dec. 16, according to its schedule. Township Council meets Monday, Nov. 9, and Monday, Nov. 23.

The mall has not been on a council agenda since September, according to the agendas for council’s four meetings from Sept. 14 through Oct. 26, as we reported.

The Planning Commission has also twice taken up a Bucks County report on certifying the Route 1 corridor, where the mall sits, as a redevelopment area. The commission tabled it Sept. 16, according to its minutes, and it was back on the Oct. 21 agenda for a recommendation. Minutes of that meeting have not been posted.

The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Bucks prepared the report in August. It has not been posted on the township’s website, and which properties the area would cover has not been announced.

Background

Paramount and Edgewood bought the roughly 108.5-acre property in 2024, excluding the former Macy’s building, according to Paramount’s website.

Whole Foods’ store in Jenkintown is about 9 miles from the mall site in a straight line, and its Doylestown store about 13 miles, measured from the addresses on the company’s store pages.

Before the closing, Council President Ed Tokmajian Jr. asked residents to suggest a name for the redeveloped site in an Instagram post with a video. “There’s a lot that still needs to happen, but we are excited about the possibilities and, most importantly, want to hear from you,” he wrote.