AMC Delancey Plans $20M Gettysburg Village Expansion

GETTYSBURG, PA-Philadelphia-based AMC Delancey Group plans a 200,000-sf expansion of Gettysburg Village Factory Stores outlet center here. In November, leasing of the existing 240,000-sf center reached 100%. The center opened in October 2000.

Michael Wachs, AMC Delancey VP, tells GlobeSt.com the overall construction cost of the full expansion will be "roughly about $100 per foot, so the total cost will be about $20 million, or maybe a little less." The expansion will take place in phases, beginning with a 40,000-sf, nine-screen theater by Gettysburg Village Theaters, which is an affiliate of Cinema Centers, and a 7,000-sf, freestanding TGI Friday's restaurant. Both are expected to break ground this spring and open later this year.

Of the remaining buildings, Wachs says, "We're talking with potential tenants. We don't want to cannibalize existing tenants' business. Our focus is still on outlet/discount retailers, but we plan to balance the value concept with some more traditional lifestyle merchants. The Main Street ambiance of the center reflects a lifestyle center," he says, "and we've had interest--both for the existing center and the expansion--among retailers that want to make the crossover and locate here, because they want to be in this market."

Van Troutman, EVP of Cinema Centers, says Gettysburg Village "is the best place for a theater in town," based on its success as a retail destination that offers "the foot traffic, demographics and parking necessary to service the local community." The center is at Route 15 and Baltimore Street in this historic town and is designed to replicate traditional Main Street America. It currently contains 70 stores and a food court and provides seasonal entertainment in addition to shopping.

"Our goal is to consistently reinvest [in the center]," says Andrew Kleeman, AMC Delancey's VP and asset manager. The expansion, he says, will bring "more excitement, more entertainment and more jobs to the Gettysburg area."