SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ-The commercial properties division of the Kaplan Cos. has begun the planning stages for a project to convert a 166,000-sf industrial building at Route 1 and Black Horse Lane here into an Ashley Furniture HomeStore. The developer and store owner Will Schafer, a local businessman, are currently projecting a spring 2005 opening, pending final approvals from local officials.

"This is our commercial division's first project to turn an old warehouse into a retail enterprise," says Jason Kaplan, vice president of the Highland Park-based Kaplan Cos. "We look forward to overhauling this structure."

The building and its 18.5-acre site were until recently owned by Leggett & Platt Inc., a Missouri-based manufacturing company that used the site as a warehouse for mattress products. Kaplan closed on the acquisition of the property just last week.

Under preliminary plans that will be presented to this township's zoning board, about 54,000 sf of the warehouse will be converted into the actual furniture store, with the remaining space used to house inventory. "The plan has so far received warm support from township officials," according to Kaplan.

Ashley Furniture HomeStores is the exclusive seller of furniture made by the Arcadia, WI-based Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., according to Schafer. The stores bearing the Ashley name across the country are actually independently owned and operated.

The furniture manufacturing part of the business was found in the 1940s with divisions in Chicago and in Indiana. The Ashley Furniture HomeStores operation was rolled out just seven years ago with the initial unit in Anchorage. The local unit, when it opens, will mark the 140th store in the chain. Two other stores currently operate in New Jersey, in Cherry Hill and Mount Holly.

"Ashley Furniture HomeStores are unique," says Schafer, who also owns unrelated furniture stores in Linden and Woodbridge. "These stores have been designed to be extremely kid-friendly and fun, with video games, fountains and waterfalls. It's not just a furniture store; it's a place where people will want to come visit and stick around."