The Bridgewater Commons has a new owner who wants to "revitalize" the 35-year-old mall.

Pacific Retail Capital Partners, based in Los Angeles, has acquired the 1.2 million-square-foot mall and the adjacent 94,000-square-foot Village at Bridgewater Commons.

In a press release Monday morning, Pacific Retail Capital Partners said it wants to "transform the mall into a vibrant mixed-use destination."

The developer "is committed to working closely with local officials and community members in order to help revitalize Bridgewater Commons and create a destination that will continue to be an anchor for the market for years to come," according to the release.

“The Bridgewater Commons Mall has been the centerpiece on Bridgewater’s commercial sector for over 30 years and the township looks forward to working with its new owners,” said Mayor Matthew Moench in a statement.  “I am confident that a collaborative relationship will help to ensure the mall’s viability for the next 30 years and beyond.”

“The acquisition of Bridgewater Commons represents another important step in our ongoing efforts to acquire well located, quality retail centers in fundamentally strong markets that will enable us to thoughtfully evolve them into market-leading mixed-use assets,” said Steve Plenge, CEO of Pacific Retail Capital Partners, in the release. “While we will continue to pursue strategic joint ventures and other partnership structures to execute our long-term strategy, we will also seek to own more properties outright, such as Bridgewater Commons, providing us with even greater optionality when it comes to repositioning and monetizing assets.”

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A purchase price has not been disclosed.

The sale will have no impact on the mall's day-to-day operations and programming, according to the release.

Pacific Retail Capital Partners assumed Bridgewater Commons’ existing loan and secured an extension that will provide the company with sufficient time to execute its plan to revitalize the mall, the release said.

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The Los Angeles firm has more than $3 billion in assets under management across the U.S. and its portfolio totals 24 properties with more than 20 million square feet.

The company, which focuses on revitalizing large retail properties, is redeveloping The Galleria at White Plains in Westchester County, New York in partnership with Cappelli Organization.

As an example of its other revitalization efforts, Pacific Retail Capital Partners acquired an anchor store at a suburban Chicago mall and is transforming it into an exciting mixed-use destination by adding more than 600 multifamily units and a park, according to the release.

In addition, the company is revitalizing a shopping center in a Salt Lake City suburb into a live, work and play environment by building more than 1,000 multifamily units and adding an office and hotel component with unique restaurant and retail concepts.

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"This transaction is a perfect example of how we are able to use our industry relationships and expertise to identify investment opportunities that we are uniquely positioned to execute on,” said Oscar Parra, chief financial officer of Pacific Retail Capital Partners, in the release. “The way we were able to structure this transaction together with Bridgewater Commons’ existing cash flow provides us with the time and resources required to deliver a well-conceived master plan.”

In the release, the company said that its strategy is maintaining full control over its master-planned projects. That allows it to implement a concept design that fits into the community.

The company said it "commits to working closely with various stakeholders throughout the process in order to secure necessary approvals in a timely and cost-efficient manner."

The concept of the Bridgewater Commons first began to take shape in the 1970s when planners and real estate developers took notice of a "Golden Triangle" formed by Interstate 287, Route 22 and Routes 202-206.

Built in the golden age of the American mall in the 1980s, Bridgewater Commons was developed by The Hahn Company and opened in February 1988. The three anchor stores in the state-of-the-art mall were Macy's, Stern's (now Bloomingale's) and Hahne’s which later became Lord & Taylor.

In 1998, The Rouse Company, developer of Harborplace in Baltimore and the South Street Seaport, acquire The Hahn Company and brought in J.P. Morgan Investment Management as partner to finance the deal.

Six years later in 2004, General Growth Properties acquired Rouse. In 2009, General Growth Properties, which was then the second-largest U.S. mall owner whose properties also included the Woodbridge and Willowbrook malls, declared bankruptcy, the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.

Brookfield Property Partners acquired General Growth Properties in August 2018 and a year later, J.P. Morgan Asset Management and the New York Teachers Retirement System acquired Brookfield's interest in the mall.

In 2020, Trademark Property Co. was hired to oversee the mall.

But in the wake of the pandemic, the Bridgewater Commons, like other malls through the U.S., began to suffer as more and more stores began to close as shoppers went online to make their purchases.

Last December, the mall faced foreclosure as its mortgage matured and Wells Fargo filed a notice of default on the $300 million loan.

As the shift to online shopping continues, it's estimated that a quarter of America's 1,000 shopping malls will close in the next two to four years.

In December, the Bridgewater Township Council adopted a zoning ordinance to allow establishments for games, entertainment and amusements in the mall. That would allow popular venues such as Topgolf or Dave & Busters to locate there. The ordinance says that any future establishments should not be bigger than 90,000 square feet.

The Planning Board has approved plans for Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse to open at the mall, and the former Crate & Barrel in the Village at the Commons is being transformed into medical offices.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bridgewater Commons sold; new owner plans to 'revitalize' mall