If Bucks County residents had their way, Oxford Valley Mall would become part restaurant district, part entertainment hub, part town center, and in at least one memorable case, part brothel.

It is a wish list that says something real about where this community is, and where it thinks the mall should go.

The backdrop matters. What stands today at the corner of Route 1 and Oxford Valley Road is a 1.3-million-square-foot structure with 111 stores, anchored by just JCPenney and Macy’s.

It is a long way from the days when Wanamaker’s, Boscov’s, Sears, and Gimbels filled these corridors and a Saturday afternoon at the mall was a Lower Bucks County ritual.

Change is already underway, though not fast enough for some.

Simon Property Group sold roughly 20 of the property’s 135 acres to Villanova-based developer CornerstoneTracy, which opened the first 391 units of Atlee Square in August 2024, a luxury apartment complex built on the footprint of the demolished Boscov’s.

A second phase of 223 additional units was slated to break ground this year.

Healthcare may follow. Capital Health, which owns a medical building on Middletown Boulevard directly adjacent to the property, confirmed as of early 2026 that it is back in the development stage, weighing whether to build a micro-hospital, a multi-specialty ambulatory hub, or some combination of both.

Still, the Atlee Square developer has not been quiet about his frustration. He told the Bucks County Courier Times that Simon Property Group has not yet delivered the broader redevelopment momentum the residential project was meant to kick-start.

Which may be exactly why more than 80 Bucks County residents showed up in the Facebook comments yesterday when BUCKSCO Today asked a simple question: If you were redesigning Oxford Valley Mall from scratch, what would you build there?

The responses poured in. Some were practical. Some were nostalgic. A few were inspired.

Readers suggested everything from a new Sesame Place and an indoor arboretum to a forest, an indoor dog park, an adult water park, and yes, a brothel.

Beneath the humor, clear themes emerged.

Restaurants came up more than anything else. Again and again, readers called for sit-down dining, outdoor patios, happy hour spots, specialty food markets, and specific chains: Cheesecake Factory, Trader Joe’s, and others that Bucks County has long lobbied for.

A striking number of commenters said they would rather see the property become a dining destination than a mall at all.

Entertainment ran a close second. Concert venues, bowling alleys, roller rinks, ice skating, Dave & Buster’s, movie theaters, family activity centers.

The underlying message was consistent: Bucks County needs more places where people of different ages can actually gather, hang out, and spend time together without it being a transaction.

A separate but overlapping group wanted something closer to a real town center, an outdoor Main Street feel with public plazas, parks, community events, libraries, and cultural spaces woven in.

One commenter put it plainly, calling for a “third space,” a place outside of home and work where people can simply be without feeling pressured to buy something.

Housing drew the most complicated response. Some readers embraced the idea of senior housing, 55-plus communities, affordable units, and mixed-use development.

Others pushed back hard on more luxury apartments, arguing the region already has enough of those and that affordability should drive any residential component.

The most telling signal may have been what almost nobody asked for.

Department stores were nearly absent from the conversation. A return to the traditional mall model came up rarely, and usually to dismiss it.

What residents described, consistently and across hundreds of comments, was a destination organized around experience rather than retail.

Dining. Entertainment. Community. A reason to show up that has nothing to do with shopping.

That happens to align closely with what the developer already on site has been pushing for publicly, and with what has already worked at former malls in Delaware and Montgomery counties.

The bones of a town center are taking shape at Oxford Valley whether Simon Property Group moves quickly or not.

The community has made its case. The question now is whether the people with the power to build it are paying attention.

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