The center would rise on a vacant 23-acre site formerly used byPacific Vegetable Oil International. The company filed forbankruptcy a decade ago, shut down its operations shortlythereafter, and the site has been unused since. Drew Chemicalutilized the site for many years prior to PVO's occupancy.

Complicating matters for Boonton Investors is the fact that thetract is heavily polluted and needs remediation. Any developmentcan't proceed until the both the Department of EnvironmentalProtection, both state and federal, sign off on it and properpermits are in place. Existing buildings on the site would bedemolished to make way for the new shopping complex, under thedeveloper's plan

What Boonton Investors has in mind, according to project managerJim Cavanaugh, is just under 190,000 sf of retailing, including abank and a restaurant. The complex would be anchored by a "big box"retailer to be named. Home Depot was an early candidate, butnegotiations with the home improvement chain broke off some timeago. Now, Boonton Investors is said to be deep into negotiationswith Wal-Mart to fill the slot. According to a published report,Wal-Mart is said to be a "good possibility" for the complex.