New Jersey's Second-Oldest Mall Gets $290M Refinance

An aging mall in Paramus, NJ—New Jersey’s mall capital, a place with more mall parking spaces than residents—has received a new lease on life.

Urban Edge Properties has refinanced Bergen Town Center, a 67-year-old mall in Paramus, N. with a new seven-year, $290M loan.

The loan, provided by New York Life Insurance and Metlife Investment Management replaces 10-year, $300M loan from Wells Fargo that was set to mature this month that had been sent to special servicing before the maturity date.

Occupancy at the Bergen Town Center, which opened as an open-air mall in 1957, had rebounded from 77% in 2021 to 91% in 2022. Located on Route 4, the mall attracts nearly 11M visitors annually. Whole Foods and Target anchor the mall.

With refinancing, Urban Edge Properties, a retail REIT, has reduced the debt maturing through the end of 2025 to $235M, equal to about 15 of outstanding indebtedness.

Crumbl Cookies, Haagen Daz, Journeys, Perfumania and Bond Vet recently committed to a total of 9,553 SF at Bergen Center. Two J. Crew’s concepts, J. Crew and J. Crew Men’s, will be combining into one larger flagship space of 6,247 SF.

Like many older malls, Bergen Mall is slated to undergo an adaptive reuse that will add residential buildings to the property. The mall previously has undergone a $50M renovation.

Under plans filed with the Paramus Planning Board, Urban Edge will demolish a Kirkland retail building on the east side of the property and construct two residential buildings encompassing a total of 456 units. Both of the apartment buildings will feature 11K SF of ground-floor retail space.

The apartment buildings will include 68 units designated as affordable. Amenities for the residential community will include an outdoor courtyard, a pool, a game room, lounge, workstations, a fitness center and a dog area. Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners is the designer of the project.

Last year, Hackensack Meridian Health developed an 80K SF medical building on the mall property.

Another aging mall on Route 4, the Garden State Plaza, also is undergoing an adaptive reuse project that is adding residential units. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is adding 550 apartment units to the venerable mall, the oldest in New Jersey.

The apartments on the western side of the mall will blend into the shopping center with a one-acre “town green.”