New ShopRite proposed for Watchung shopping center on Route 22
WATCHUNG - ShopRite wants to expand at the Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22.
Levin Properties, owner of the 419,935-square-foot center that has been a Central Jersey destination for decades, is scheduled to appear before the borough Planning Board on Sept. 20 with a plan to construct a 71,6850-square-foot ShopRite.
The present ShopRite, according to the center's brochure, is 43,365 square feet.
A phasing plan provides that the existing grocery store will remain open until the new ShopRite is constructed and opened, according to a legal notice announcing the public hearing on the proposal.
The plan also calls for the elimination of some retail spaces in the shopping center to create bigger store spaces. The project also proposes other improvements and alterations to update the shopping center and its facades with modern materials and designs.
A variance is required because 1,888 parking spaces are required and 1,653 are proposed. But, according to the legal notice, the parking lot has been in use since the 1960s, when its anchor was E.J. Korvette, and "has thus far provided adequate parking spaces for operations."
Other variances will be required for signage.
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Other stores in the shopping center include Kohl's, Marshalls, Michaels, Dollar Tree and Hand & Stone Spa. Restaurants include Wendy's, Arby's, TGI Fridays and 5 Guys Burgers.
The ShopRite at Blue Star is owned by Village Super Market which operates 30 ShopRite stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as four Gourmet Garage markets and four Fairway Market stores in New York City.
In Central Jersey, besides the Watchung store, Village Super Market operates ShopRites in Hillsborough, Bernardsville, Franklin, Old Bridge, Long Valley and Garwood.
Levin Management, based on Route 22 in North Plainfield, has a 125-property, 16 million-square-foot leasing and management portfolio.
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In Central Jersey, Levin also owns the Somerset Shopping Center on the Somerville Circle, Rutgers Plaza in Franklin and St. George's Crossing in Woodbridge.
Blue Star is one of the oldest shopping centers in Central Jersey. Construction on the $7 million center on 47 acres along a half mile of Route 22, which was also known as the Blue Star Memorial Highway, began in January 1958.
Other major tenants at the time, besides E.J. Korvetter, were Acme, Grand Union, Sun Ray Drugs, Father and Son Shoes and Thom McAn.
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: New ShopRite proposed for Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22
