"We've already built the brand here in Lahaska. Our initial property's about 16,000 sf," Chris Leskauskas, CEO of Peddler's Village Partnership, tells GlobeSt.com. "We're going to recreate that brand and recreate that brand with footprints of 25,000 sf." Leskauskas adds that the two sites will most likely be developed by spring of 2010. He further explains that the first one should be done by the second quarter of 2009.
"Right now we're looking at standalone centers--some of the larger lifestyle centers. What's kind of ironic," Leskauskas notes, "is that we are ourselves a lifestyle center." Peddler's Village focuses on smaller boutique stores, though, without any big box tenants. The company leases out 120,000 sf to outside retailers, and owns and operates the balance of its space for the 70-room Golden Plough Inn, restaurants, corporate office space, and Giggleberry.
Meridian Capital Group has arranged a $20 million refinance with lender LaSalle Bank for Peddler's Village, with a 6.4% rate over a ten-year, interest-only term. Israel Schubert and Mary Jane Stofik of Meridian's New Jersey office represented Peddler's Village. "The refinancing of the Village is going to be giving us the opportunity for growth," Leskauskas says.
"Tentatively, we're very close to moving forward on a site in Exton, PA," he explains. "We're looking at a site in the Lehigh Valley/Bethlehem area as well. Some people have compared us to a Chuck E. Cheese. Chuck E. Cheese is usually about 5,000 sf." The new Giggleberry locations will be five times that size, Leskauskas notes, allowing for many different components.
"Our existing property has a 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. carousel. That evokes an emotion in people when they come in. We have an arcade that's only green-rated: no sex, no violence," he says. "We have Discovery Land, targeting a younger child, with activities between the parent and the child. We have Giggleberry Mountain, a four-story indoor activity center. We've incorporated a velocity unit--soft ball component--into it. It's the largest of its structure in the northeast."
Leskauskas continues, "in our new property, we're going to take what we've created as a footprint, but we'll be adding eight lanes of regulation bowling, a 25-foot rock climbing wall, laser tag bumper cars, and a frog hopper."
"It's a big undertaking and a new philosophy for Peddler's Village," he concludes. "Expanding out of the small town of Lahaska is something we haven't done. But we have something we think has the legs to become a national entity."
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