Video game-heavy Army recruiting center at Philadelphia mall closing at end of July

Flashy Army recruitment center in Pa. mall closing

PHILADELPHIA — A high-tech Army recruiting center inside a Philadelphia shopping mall is closing its doors as a two-year pilot program ends.

The Army Experience Center is the only facility of its kind. It opened in August 2008 with interactive video exhibits, nearly 80 video-gaming stations, a replica command-and-control center, conference rooms, and helicopter and Humvee combat simulators.

Since then, it has hosted about 40,000 visitors and enlisted 236 recruits.

The $12 million center in the Franklin Mills mall will cease operations at the end of July.

Army officials said the program was not intended to be permanent. They say it was designed to determine the most effective tools for public outreach.