Developer Inks Deal for Mixed-Use Park

The name is actually a bit of a misnomer, because Walters' project will include major doses of retail and residential uses. The plan calls for almost 630,000 sf of retail space, as well as up to 500 residential units, some of them affordable housing. The office space component will be just 25,000 sf. A 70,000-sf ice rink is also in the mix.

The timing of the build-out for the designated developer, headed by Edward Walters, is complicated by the fact that the site includes some Ocean County government facilities that will have to be relocated, as well as a 60-acre former landfill that has to be capped. Local officials estimate that remediating the landfill will cost about $20 million and take upwards of a year to get done, and Walters has hired Shaw Emcon/OWT, a Mahwah-based waste services firm, to head the effort.

Walters also expects the permitting process to take as much as 18 months to accomplish. The site is located within the New Jersey Pine Barrens region and requires final approval from the Pinelands Commission, a state agency. Also, the New Jersey DEP has to okay the site remediation plan, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation has to give its blessing to the project's traffic plan.

With the retail component a dominant portion of the project, Walters has signed up Metro Commercial Real Estate, a Mt. Laurel-based brokerage firm, to get the proposed space leased up. Costco has already been mentioned as an anchor tenant, and other retail names that have surfaced include Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy and PetsMart. Walters could not be reached for comment on the potential tenant mix.

The bidding process for the project came down to two, with Walters getting the nod over Buffalo, NY-based Benderson Development. The latter's plan was considered to be too heavy on the residential side, with a proposal for almost double Walters' 600-unit plan.

And before that, the local commission had a deal with New York-based Stafford Resort Development Co., a contract that was terminated for failure to meet certain deadlines. As part of its deal with the township, Walters will swap 30 acres it owns nearby for 19 acres of county-owned land within the redevelopment site. The trade is a means of relocating the existing county facilities.