Things might seem a little different next time you visit the Cheltenham Mall, as the owners have decided to turn the once indoor space into an outdoor retail center by removing the ceiling and several walls, writes Suzette Parmley for Philly.com.

The mall, which opened nearly half a century ago, was first enclosed in 1981. Since then the Montgomery County shopping location has had several designs and numerous different stores.

The Mall was acquired by Thor Equities for $71.5 million in December 2005 from Simon Property Group. Within a decade of the purchase, the mall went through foreclosure, leaving the door open for Sun Equity to acquire the shopping center in bankruptcy court for $30 million.

Sun, which focuses its operations on turning around troubled malls, is putting down an additional $40 million to create an outdoor shopping plaza named Greenleaf at Cheltenham which should be complete by 2018.

“The problem is that an enclosed mall is very expensive to operate, and that’s why that’s being taken out and turned inside out with a shopping center with more parking,” said managing director Dan Brickner of Metro Commercial, the leasing agency for the venue.

Read more about the mall changes at Philly.com by clicking here.