Kushner Unveils Monmouth Mall Development Plans At Public Meeting

EATONTOWN, NJ — Heads up! There will be a special Eatontown Council meeting Monday night where Kushner Co., the owner of Monmouth Mall, will give a public presentation on their plans to develop the mall.

This comes at a time when Kushner is about to embark on a massive overhaul of Monmouth Mall, including the impending closure of J.C. Penney and the construction of 1,000 apartments on site.

Monday night's meeting will be one of the few times Kushner will present its latest plans to the public. The developer was supposed to give a public presentation July 27, but that was was canceled and tonight is the rescheduled meeting.

From the town of Eatontown:

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA Mayor and Council Monday, August 15, 2022 @ 7:30 P.M.

This meeting will be held via Zoom Video Conferencing ONLY. There will be no in-person participation. In order to virtually attend the meeting, members of the public must dial 1-929-205-6099 or 1-253-215-8782 and use access code/meeting ID 872 9068 0442. Or can join via video at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8729... or by downloading the Zoom App. Please follow prompts. Out of respect for the need to run an orderly meeting, we ask that all participants keep their phone on mute.

This Special Meeting has been noticed in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act. A notice of this Special Meeting was transmitted to the Asbury Park Press, the Link News and the Star Ledger, posted on the bulletin board in the lobby of Borough Hall and posted to the Borough website. Public Comment is welcome at any time.

1. Roll Call
2. Flag Salute
3. Monmouth Mall – Developer’s Second Public Presentation
4. Council Comment
5. Public Comment
6. Adjournment (vv)

No formal action will be taken Monday night and public comment is welcome, said Eatontown Mayor Anthony Talerico.

The next Eatontown town council meeting will be August 24 @ 7:00 p.m. at Borough Hall, 47 Broad Street, Eatontown.

The Eatontown Planning Board has yet to approve Kushner's proposal to build the apartments. However, the town of Eatontown already declared the Monmouth Mall an "area of redevelopment" and the town actually worked with Kushner to come up with the idea of a residential apartment complex.

"This was the result of a series of discussions," Talerico told Patch last month. "They (Kushner) didn't come to us and say 'Do this.' This was the result of a collaborative effort. We are currently trying to gauge public opinion on this. 1,000 units may make some people upset. But we have to create some kind of product that will yield ratables so we can collect taxes for this site."

"We haven't backed away from (the idea of residential apartments)," Michael Sommer, vice president for development and construction at Kushner Cos., told Patch earlier this year. "In the current environment of retail, we need to figure out what the highest and best uses for the mall are. In terms of our overall vision (for Monmouth Mall), we foresee a significant redevelopment for the remaining retail and other businesses on site."

"As you are aware, there are many vacancies at the mall," he added.

What Kushner is planning for Monmouth Mall:

• The J.C. Penney, an anchor tenant, will close, likely sometime in October. This was a decision made by J.C. Penney, not Kushner.
• Build 1,000 one- and two-bedroom apartments at the mall. The new residential complex would be called "Monmouth Village" and Kushner would also like to build walking and biking trails around it.
• Kushner plans to tear down the mall's multi-story parking garage and replace it with a flat parking lot, which will will accommodate much fewer cars; the number of parking spaces will be reduced by 638 spaces. The reduced amount of parking matches with the reduced amount of stores inside the mall: Monmouth Mall currently has so many empty stores inside that the mall's total square footage has dropped by 25,000 square feet.

Additional development near the mall:

• This summer two big new medical complexes opened near the mall, the first being the Anne Vogel Family Care and Wellness Center next to the Boscov's. It is owned by RWJBarnabas. Hackensack Meridian Health just opened an outpatient care center in what used to be the DSW store on Rt. 35 near the mall. Both have pediatric offices for children, women's health and urgent care. The RWJ site will also have a branch of Children's Specialized hospital. Both medical offices opened in late July/early August. (The two hospital systems are in competition with each other to dominate New Jersey's healthcare market, especially in prime suburban areas.)
• An Amazon Fresh grocery store is scheduled to open this fall in what used to be the Eatontown Toys R Us on Rt. 35.

Kushner Cos. was started by Charles Kushner, the father of President Trump's son in law Jared Kushner. The Kushners are the developers of Pier Village in Long Branch. Charles Kushner and his wife still live in Long Branch to this day.