Annie Sez,which recently celebrated its grand opening, signed on for 10,000 sf, the opening of a 4,250 sf Payless is imminent and Burlington is scheduled to open its 84,900-sf doors for the first time in March 2004. All three retailers will be occupying the vacant Super Kmart space, which totaled well over 100,000 sf. National Realty subdivided the space to accommodate the new tenants.

The stores will have direct visibility from Dunning Road and are located at the signalized drive entrance into the center. Limited space ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 sf, as well as new pad sites are still available, National Realty officials note.

The three new retailers will join a tenant roster at the center which includes: Wal-Mart Supercenter, the Home Depot, Kohl's Department Store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Modell's Sporting Goods, David's Bridal, Staples, Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday and other specialty stores and restaurants.

National Realty & Development, the owner and manager of Orange Plaza, completed the redevelopment of what was an outdated and run-down 1960's styled enclosed mall into a 900,000-sf power center in the spring of 2002.

Elsewhere, the Purchase, N.Y.-based firm reports that it currently has 10 development projects under construction in more than six states that will add Lowe's Home Improvement, the Home Depot, WalMart Supercenter and Burlington Coat Factory to its portfolio.

In addition, National Realty has nine projects planned for the next two years that will add more than 2.2 million sf to its portfolio. Construction is scheduled to commence by the end of 2003 and into early next year for most of those projects, company officials say. When completed, the company's retail portfolio will be more than 16 million sf. Among the projects in the pipeline are: the 258,000-sf Rockaway Center in Rockaway, NJ; the addition of a 127,000-sf Target store and a 56,000-sf redevelopment of the upper floor at the Hawley Lane Mall in Trumbull, CT; a 242,000-sf Hadley Center II in South Plainfield, NJ and the 110,000-sf Commons in Phillipsburg, NJ.