The owner of Xtreme Action Park in Florida is bringing a similar entertainment center, with a go-kart track and ax throwing, to Moorestown Mall.
But the planned two-story bar, arcade and amusement center is coming to New Jersey under a new name to avoid confusion with Action Park, the infamous, long-shuttered amusement park in Sussex County.
The original Action Park, which closed in the 1990s, was known for its thrill rides and water slides and its reputation for safety violations, injuries and several deaths. Vernon Park was the subject of a popular 2020 documentary, “Class Action Park.”
Xtreme Action Park is not associated with the defunct amusement park, and its developers said they know they will need a new name for the proposed shopping center attraction in Burlington County.
“There won’t be ‘Action Park’ in the name,” Parkinson Holdings’ Steven Midttun told NJ Advance Media.
Midttun and Aaron Parkinson, owner of Xtreme Action Park in Florida, appeared before the Moorestown planning board on May 2 to discuss their plan for a two-story entertainment center with ax throwing, a go-kart track, a bar-style clandestine and a roof. music venue, among other attractions.
Board approval is not needed for the project because the proposal is a permitted use within the Moorestown Mall redevelopment plan, the planning board’s attorney said at the meeting.
Although the company has not announced a name, planning board member Christopher Keating drew laughter at the meeting when he suggested not using Action Park.
“We want to stay away from Action Park in New Jersey,” Keating said.
The infamous “Cannonball Loop” at Action Park in Vernon, a waterslide with a 360-degree loop that briefly opened at the park before closing due to injuries.
Midttun said Thursday that the company had previously decided to seek a new name for the New Jersey location because of Action Park’s reputation.
“Xtreme Action in Fort Lauderdale is obviously a name and facility that has been very successful. We are not going to use Action Park because of some of the history we know in New Jersey,” Midttun said.
The new entertainment center is expected to be a major development at Moorestown Mall, seven months after voters approved an unusual referendum aimed at revitalizing the Burlington County shopping destination. The referendum allowed businesses that offer games of chance or skill, similar to those proposed in the new entertainment center, to enter the town.
The new mall attraction would provide approximately 150 jobs, the company told the planning board.
The entertainment center will be located in the mall’s former Lord & Taylor, Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie said. Lord & Taylor, once a thriving department store chain and now an online retailer, was one of the mall’s anchor stores before closing in 2020.
Under the proposal, the first floor of the 121,000-square-foot entertainment center would feature a speakeasy-style bar (a modern take on Prohibition-era taverns) with events ranging from jazz to comedy. According to the summary presented to the planning board, there would also be a multi-level go-kart track, carnival games and more than 100 arcade games and virtual reality offerings.
Ax throwing would take place on the second floor, along with four themed golf attractions and bowling, a variation on traditional bowling involving balls and smaller pins. There would also be remote-controlled car racing and gamified darts with digital projection.
On the rooftop, there would be an area for live music and outdoor entertainment.
A rendering of the first floor of the proposed two-story entertainment venue at Morristown Mall
“We want people to come out with a smile on their face and be happy,” Midtturn said.
The company is purchasing the former anchor store at the mall and hopes to close the sale in July.
The goal is to open next year, sometime between Jan. 1 and March 31, he said.
“They have made this process, which is not always easy, very simple,” Midtturn said of the mall’s owner, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, known as PREIT.
PREIT announced in February that it had emerged from its second bankruptcy filing in four years as a private company with a new CEO. In addition to Moorestown Mall, it owns Cherry Hill Mall and about a dozen shopping centers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
Malls across the country have been implementing new strategies to attract shoppers as they face losing business to online retailers, vacancies exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving consumer preferences.
Moorestown is located about 14 miles from Philadelphia and is home to about 21,000 residents.
An exterior view of the Moorestown Mall in Moorestown, New Jersey
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You can contact Rob Jennings at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
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