At the Old Lycoming Mall, the New Stuff Is Happening Around the Edges

This weekend, Oct. 9 through 11, the Susquehanna Film Festival returns to the District Cinema in Pennsdale for its second year. The awards event starts at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11 and is open to the public. The theater is part of the former Lycoming Mall property, where the interior closed in February 2023.

That pairing of a busy theater next to a dark mall says a lot about how this redevelopment is unfolding. Everything opening, planned or approved so far sits on the ring of roads and outparcels around the old building. The developer's own published plan says the first phase needs no major demolition at all. Here's what that means for anyone driving Lycoming Mall Circle this fall.

A Film Festival in a 12-Screen Theater Most People Remember as the Regal

The District Cinema occupies the old Regal theater at 965 Lycoming Mall Circle. Local coverage in April 2024 reported its return as District Cinema. Dipson Theatres runs it, and its schedule shows showtimes for today, Oct. 7.

The festival was founded by Tim Yasui, a Hollywood film executive who was born and raised in Williamsport. According to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette's July 30 announcement, last year's first festival screened 33 films. Awards went out in categories including Best Pennsylvania Film, Best Documentary, Best Student Film and Best Horror Film. This year adds a category for the best Williamsport-made film. District Cinema general manager Jordan Musheno said the lineup will "span every budget, every genre and walk of life." Tickets are sold through the District Cinema's site.

"Substantial investments have been made to improve their complex to give film lovers an even greater theater experience than last year." Tim Yasui, festival founder, in the festival's press release

A visitor's evening out here never needs the mall building, and that's been true for a while.

The Ring Road Is Already Doing the Work

Here's what's operating or about to open along Lycoming Mall Circle and South Lycoming Mall Road, based on official business pages and local reporting checked this week.

Hoopla's is the main reason families come here besides movies. It has mini golf, mini bowling, axe throwing and an arcade, and Longshots Grill serves as its restaurant and sports bar. At Lycoming Crossing, Maurices came back to the area after a two-year absence, taking a 7,500-square-foot space. Five Below moved out of that unit into a larger new building next door.

Chick-fil-A is the one people keep asking about. Its official location page still reads "Coming Soon." NorthcentralPA reported that the restaurant was hiring and expected to open "later this fall," with local owner/operator Connor McLachlan and about 100 jobs expected. Construction was already underway when the Sun-Gazette covered the groundbreaking in October 2025. That story gave the address as 180 S. Lycoming Mall Road. The company's own listing uses 420, and that's the one to put in a map app.

One store that didn't make it is Burlington. A March 2025 report called it the former mall's last remaining retail store and said closing signs had gone up. Big Lots had its last business day on March 13 of that year.

Phase One Builds More Edge, Not a New Middle

Famvest Partners, a State College firm, bought the 135-acre mall property in June 2023 for $15 million. Lycoming County lent $5 million toward the purchase. Famvest renamed the complex The District at Lycoming Valley. Famvest president Jon Jahanshahi has said the long-term goal is to demolish the whole mall and bring in new national tenants.

The sequence matters, though. Famvest's published FAQ lists three projects in the first phase:

1. Bass Pro Shops Outpost. It goes on the former Best Buy site, which will be redeveloped and expanded. It won't be inside the mall.
2. A Wawa. Its land-development design was underway as of the FAQ.
3. A 107-room Hilton-branded hotel. Both it and the Wawa were announced at the March 1, 2026 open house.

The same FAQ says plainly that "no demolition of any major structure is required for the initial phase of development." Taking down parts of the existing mall comes in later phases, as tenants finalize plans and approvals come through. So the closed building in the middle will likely stand longer than the headlines suggest, while new construction keeps adding to the same outer ring where the cinema, Hoopla's and Lycoming Crossing already do business.

The sources disagree slightly on the Bass Pro store's size. Bass Pro's June 2025 announcement described a 75,000-square-foot Outpost expected to open in 2027. Famvest's FAQ says roughly 77,000 square feet or more. At the March open house, Famvest also said it was close to signing a national retailer for the former Big Lots space. No name has been announced.

Where the Paperwork Stands This Fall

Approvals have been the slow part, and they've moved forward over the past several months. Here's the order:

• Dec. 2025: The Lycoming County Planning Commission finished its review of the Bass Pro lot-consolidation plan on Dec. 3. Muncy Township supervisors gave it conditional approval on Dec. 10.
• April 2026: A county judge ordered the township to sign that already-approved plan. A request to stay the order was denied.
• July 2026: The township planning commission recommended approving the Bass Pro land-development plans, and the supervisors approved them. Conditions covered zoning review, parking, lighting, stormwater, utility letters, and a wetlands determination from the Army Corps of Engineers.
• August 2026: The Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority approved a developer's agreement for utility work tied to the Bass Pro site.

None of these steps confirms that construction has started. A separate developer claim that an earlier land-development application was "deemed approved" was still active as of PennLive's July 10 report. The 2027 opening is still Bass Pro's stated target, not a scheduled date.

Famvest's projections give a sense of scale. Independent economic impact analyses it cites estimate about 900 permanent jobs and more than 500 construction jobs. They also estimate $25.3 million for the Muncy School District over 30 years.

Across the Street, the Bush House Is Still Undecided

The hotel is planned for the Bush House property, directly across from the future Bass Pro. Famvest agreed in August 2022 to buy the Bush House Estates for $1.8 million, and the house dates to the mid-1800s. The property includes several acres of farmland and a historic home that has served as lodging and an event venue.

In March, the plan called for removing the cottages and barn, while Famvest invited buyers for the house itself. Famvest said every effort to sell or rent the property had been made, with no buyers found. That changed in May. Alvico LLC, the former owner, withdrew its lawsuit, and a resolution was being drafted. Alvico's attorney, Joseph F. Orso III, said he hoped it would result "in the preservation of the Bush House and its structures, although there are no guarantees." The same report said the Wawa is planned nearby as part of the larger development, not on the Bush House site. No final resolution has been reported since.

For now, the clearest thing to do on the old mall property is take in a film this weekend at a theater that's been running since before Bass Pro was announced. The awards night is Sunday at 7 p.m.

If you live near Pennsdale and want to talk through how The District's progress could affect your plans, the team at Century 21 Colonial Real Estate in Muncy follows these township decisions closely. Contact Us anytime for a straightforward conversation.