CHERRY HILL, NJ-With residential development just under way and a 19-acre corporate park looming, the various developers involved with the $500-million redevelopment of the defunct Garden State Park racetrack offered more detailed specifics of the plan to turn the site into a city-within-a-city. The master redeveloper and owner of the 222-acre tract is Turnberry Cherry Hill, a partnership based here and in Aventura, FL.

The biggest news presented before a recent meeting of the local chamber of commerce involved the 700,000-sf retail portion of the project. Officials of M&M Realty Partners of Clifton unveiled a list of signed and potential tenants for the project, which includes both a big-box retail strip and a lifestyle center. The big-box portion is slated to start construction shortly, according to M&M vice president Joseph Morris, with a projected opening of the spring of 2006. The lifestyle center will open a year later.

According to Morris, Barnes & Noble is on-board with a 10-year lease starting in 2006, and the Cheesecake Factory has signed a 20-year lease. Another definite is Wegmans Food Market, and Morris indicated his company is close to finalizing deals with a home improvement chain and an electronics store, which he declined to name. The names Home Depot and Circuit City have surfaced, however.

Morris also indicated that his company is in serious discussions with Bed Bath & Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods and Pier 1. Also said to be in the mix are Baja Fresh, Flemings Steakhouse, Corner Bakery and Bensi, all eateries.

Responding to criticism that the new stores would take business away from existing retailing nearby, Morris told chamber of commerce attendees that "history shows that nearby stores will get a boost from the new stores." He noted that as part of the project, a road will be constructed to connect the site with the existing Pavilions Shopping Center, situated about a half-mile from the Garden State Park site.

The housing component, which will total almost 1,700 units, about a third of them age-restricted and another 20% low- and moderate-income, is in the advanced sitework stage. The first move-ins are expected to come late this year, according to Al Garfall of D.R. Horton, the Fort Worth-based developer building the homes.

And the office park component is still in the planning stages, relating to market conditions. Turnberry Cherry Hill has signed the Philadelphia-based Binswanger to take care of the leasing, with the firm's vice president, Marc Policarpo, leading the effort. The overall site plan also calls for a 10-acre park, as well as a similar amount of woodlands.