Residents Pack Eatontown Meeting To Hear New Monmouth Mall Plan

EATONTOWN, NJ - Many of the residents who packed the municipal building at Monday night's planning board meeting weren't happy with an applicant's plans to include apartments in the redevelopment of the Monmouth Mall.

Eatontown Monmouth Mall LLC - which consists of partners Kushner Cos. and Rouse Properties - wants board approval to reconfigure the mall for new retail, recreational and commercial uses, including 700 rental apartments, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.

Kushner Cos. is owned by the family of President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. They have owned the mall since 2002.

Patrick McNamara, the applicant's attorney, said retail and large shopping centers were a thing of the past and pointed out the demise of major retailers like Sports Authority and Toys-R-Us as examples.

"When I was here I mentioned to everyone that we were in the age of Amazon," he said. "That retail and large shopping centers of this nature were a vestige of a bygone era and they needed to change."

Kushner Cos. last year partnered with Rouse Properties - a New York-based real estate development group with experience transforming old-fashioned malls into modern walkable communities.

Architect Kenneth Park said the mall's proposed new retail and commercial layout would increase the leasable space of the mall by 80,000 square feet.

But the public seemed more concerned with the plan's residential component, according to the report.

Monday night's hearing lasted three hours. The hearings will resume on April 16.

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Photo by Christopher Sheldon