North Jersey mall owner eyes expansion in NJ, Northeast Corridor

The CEO of the company that owns Bergen Town Center in Paramus has suggested a massive expansion in the Northeast Corridor region in the near future.

Urban Edge Properties owns 75 properties primarily along the East Coast, including 35 in New Jersey, its website says . The commercial real estate firm recently purchased the once-troubled Ledgewood Commons mall for $83 million.

“The two biggest drivers of our growth are strong operating fundamentals and accretive acquisitions,” Urban Edge Properties CEO Jeffrey Olson said during a July 31 earnings call with investors. “We are in late-stage negotiations to acquire several high-quality shopping centers in the D.C.-to-Boston corridor.“

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None of those sales would be expected to close by the end of the year, Olson said.

A spokesperson for Urban Edge Properties said additional sites in New Jersey were being considered but did not specify any properties.

"They have the presence and knowledge of one of the most populated areas in the country, D.C. to Boston, with emphasis on northern [New Jersey]," Charles Cristella, executive vice president of retail at the commercial real estate services firm JLL, said of Urban Edge.

"It would make sense for them to grow in markets they already know. There are a lot of properties in those markets, and even more people," Cristella said.

Ledgewood mall's revitalization

Ledgewood Commons features a massive Walmart Supercenter, as well as Marshalls, Burlington, Ulta, Starbucks and Chipotle. A Barnes & Noble bookstore also opened earlier this year at the mall, after closing four years earlier.

By the time Barnes & Noble left, anchor tenants Macy’s and Walmart had already been demolished.

Elsewhere in the reimagined shopping center, the indoor concourse of the former 600,000-square-foot mall is gone. What remains is 470,000 square feet of shopping and dining in a main building and additional pod sites.

Macy's did not return, but Walmart , which closed in 2019, has since built a larger store on the property to replace its original location, the first Morris County Walmart, which opened in 1999.

Living at the mall

A mixed-use apartment complex is in the works at Bergen Town Center. It will feature 456 units along with ground-floor retail, private courtyards, pools, fitness areas and game rooms.

“Malls are in great positions if they start looking at them as real estate, and we’re not looking at them as only shopping venues,” Cristella said in an interview last year.

“Live, work, eat and play — that is the future" of mall sites, Cristella said. "If you think of where shopping centers are, these malls, they’re in great markets, they have easy access, and they’re usually near major arteries to get to.”

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.

Email: munozd@northjersey.com ; Twitter: @danielmunoz100 and Facebook

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey mall owner eyes expansion in NJ, Northeast Corridor