The once-mighty Neshaminy Mall is now half-empty. But new owners plan to save some of it.

The Neshaminy Mall’s new owners propose to augment a handful of thriving businesses — including Boscov’s, Barnes & Noble, and a 24-screen AMC multiplex — with retail, residential, and other redevelopment projects.

The million-square-foot regional mall on more than 100 acres in Bensalem, Bucks County, was sold in July for $27.5 million to Paramount Realty and Edgewood Properties, both based in New Jersey.

Built in 1968 for an estimated $24 million and anchored by a Strawbridge & Clothier store designed by pioneering mall architect Victor Gruen, the once-mighty mall now stands half-empty.

Macy’s, which took over the Strawbridge’s space, as well as Sears and many small shops and restaurants, have closed since 2017. And the pandemic further eroded Neshaminy’s vitality.

“This mall is where the opportunity is,” Paramount CEO Maurice Zekaria said. “If the mall was thriving, we wouldn’t have been the buyer. We come in when there’s distress and work with the township government and the community to try and make it better.”

Zekaria declined to comment on published reports that half of the retail space at Neshaminy would be demolished. The mall had been listed for sale ”as is” in February by previous owner Brookfield Properties. The sale to Paramount and Edgewood was first reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Meanwhile, a separate $15 million to $20 million project on the mall site by the Philadelphia-based Fusion Gyms chain is moving forward.

Fusion owner Tony Chowdhury said he plans to transform the 218,000-square-foot Macy’s building into the centerpiece of an indoor-outdoor fitness and recreation complex, including a “Vegas-style” pool and two restaurants.

“The mall needs to [offer] more than just a shopping experience,” he said.

“We have looked forward for a long time to see something really great happen at the mall,” said Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo. “Except for Boscov’s, Barnes & Noble, and the movie theater, the mall has slowed down to almost nothing since the pandemic.

“We would like to see Neshaminy Mall be a regional [destination] again.”

Conceptual renderings or redevelopment plans have not been prepared for the township to review. DiGirolamo said sections of the mall likely will be demolished and replaced by new retail buildings with ”nice stores and smaller stores.” He also said he would like the grocery store Trader Joe’s to be one of them.

The mayor was less enthusiastic about the potential construction of apartment buildings on the mall property and said Bensalem already has plenty of rental units.

Executives of Boscov’s, the family-owned chain of 50 department stores from West Virginia to Rhode Island, said they welcome the prospect of the mall’s revitalization.

“Neshaminy is one of our very best stores, and [for the mall to have] an intelligent, resourceful new owner bodes well for the future,” said CEO Jim Boscov.

The developers “have ideas they want to execute,” said Jacob Epstein, executive vice president of operations at Boscov’s, which is based in Reading. “The redevelopment of the mall will be evolutionary and will be a collaborative effort with the existing anchors and the community.”

Amid the continuing digital challenge to brick-and-mortar retailing, malls across the Philly region are adding residential units, including at Oxford Valley and Willow Grove Park. Others are providing medical facilities, like the Cooper Health outpatient care center at Moorestown Mall, or “immersive” and “experiential” attractions such as the Netflix House expected to replace a defunct department store at King of Prussia mall.

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Other malls in the Philly area have radically downsized, like the former Echelon, now the Voorhees Town Center, or disappeared altogether, as was the case of the Burlington Center in Burlington Township.

Fusion Gyms owner Chowdhury has locations in South Philly, the Northeast, and Fairless Hills, and is building another in Warminster. He said the key is to offer “something better than what you get at home, clicking” a remote or a keyboard.

“Think of what we’re building as a fitness resort and an escape from life,” he said. “There’s home, work, and then this third place. We’ll bring life back to the mall.”

Fusion will offer a dozen pickleball courts, basketball courts, an eight-hole golf course, and nine-hole virtual golfing, he said. There also will be indoor and outdoor basketball courts.

“And a barber shop,” Chowdhury said.

The Boscov’s at Neshaminy opened in 1995 in a building that had previously housed a succession of department stores, including Lit Brothers, Pomeroy’s, and the Bon-Ton. All three chains have long since folded, as have many others across the country.

But Boscov’s still has downtown stores in Wilkes-Barre and Binghamton, NY. It’s the sole anchor store in a number of other suburban locations. And in 2023 it opened its 50th store.

“People still have a need to get together, and among the places they enjoy getting together are our stores,” Jim Boscov said.

Mall shopping “remains an extremely convenient option,” said Epstein.

Michael Lisicky, who grew up in Cherry Hill and is a historian of department stores and malls, said Neshaminy “rode the wave of the concept of bringing an enclosed downtown to the suburbs.”

The wave began in the 1950s and floundered in the late 1990s “after America had become over-malled and over-stored,” he said.

But given how many generations of Americans fondly remember shopping, hanging out, or celebrating holidays at the mall, he suggests malls may find that “celebrating the glory days” with events or exhibits may be a way to get more people through the doors.

Lisicky said one of the Philly-centric touches associated with the Strawbridge family is evident in the “Freedom Wall” that faces the mall’s interior.

The department store commissioned artisanal dioramas depicting the Signing of the Declaration of Independence and other historical events.

Fearing that the dioramas could be destroyed or lost, Bensalem Township launched an effort to restore and save them. Several have been removed from the wall — one is displayed in town hall — but several others remain in the mall wall.

Mayor DiGirolamo said those will also be removed and restored and new places found for them.