The Voorhees Planning Board has approved plans to convert Four Echelon Plaza into 178 market rate apartments.
The eight story, approximately 240,000 square foot building was constructed in the early 1970s as part of the original Echelon Town Center. Office occupancy eventually dwindled, and by 2024 the building was completely vacant.
Instead of demolishing it, the developer plans to give the building an entirely new purpose.
Interestingly, Four Echelon Plaza was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an early example of precast concrete modern architecture.
This raises a much bigger South Jersey real estate question:
What should we do with office buildings people no longer need?
Remote and hybrid work have changed commercial real estate.
At the same time, South Jersey needs more housing.
Converting obsolete office space into apartments won't work everywhere, but when the building and location make sense, adaptive reuse may solve two problems at once.
Voorhees is becoming a particularly interesting place to watch because several residential developments are now proposed or approved around the former Echelon Mall area.
Thirty years ago, nobody would have imagined people living inside one of these office towers.
That's exactly why real estate fascinates me.
The highest and best use of a property can change dramatically over time.
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