It was May 1958, when ground was broken for the much touted, long anticipated Monmouth Mall which would be the area’s first 78 acre shopping mall.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company of Springfield, Mass, was the owner of the mall which would be built in Eatontown along Route 35 at the Eatontown Traffic Circle juncture with Route 36. It was touted as the largest mall in the state and would be completed and ready to open in the fall of the following year.
Bryce Price was Eatontown mayor at the time and Howard Robers the borough attorney, and both were present for the groundbreaking ceremonies along with 100 or so other interesting people including county officials. It was left to Mr. Price to turn the first spade of dirt .
As designed from the very beginning, there would be 14 different buildings in the complex with room for more than 60 stores in the 600,000 square feet of space in these buildings, all surrounded by foundations, landscaping, decorative features and parking for 4,500 cars. L. Bamberger’s and Company would be one of six department stores that would be included, that would would be the largest mall in southern New Jersey, assuming Monmouth County is considered Southern New Jersey, if not the entire state.
All kinds of services would be offered in the building such as bridal and beauty shops as well as an auditorium that could be used for all kinds of events. Even Fifth avenue specialty shops, a food market and men’s and women’s clothing and shoe stores were expected to be featured, making it the most complete shopping center in the East.
There would be at least 10 entrances to the complex grounds, coming from the highway, the Garden State Parkway half a mile away, Wykoff road and a few other roadways. Within ten years of opening it was projected that sales world top more than $278 million dollars.
And thus marked the beginning of the downfall of so many main street shopping areas in Monmouth County.
Now owned by Kushner Cos., the mall has seen bad times in recent years as shoppers tend to shop online and many simply stayed away during the Covid pandemic. This company is making applications, having talks and making potential plans to redevelop the property. One such plan is Monmouth Village, a mixed-use tract, one of several different ideas being considered in the wake of deceasing revenues and lost of companies in the Mall.
This plan calls for fewer shops in addition of residential apartments. What’s more, half the current lease holders will have their leases expire within the next year, so some action is planned before the mall incurs more financial problems.
This most recent plan proposed for the property, in addition to the stores and roughly 1,000 apartments, would be a lawn area, a clubhouse and some open public space for everyone. Medical office space is also under consideration for one of the uses.
In order to accomplish all of this at least one area of the current mall buildings would have to be demolished, a grocery store would have to be added, then the residential section constructed, with the entire project taking some six or seven years to complete.
All of which puts the governing body in a tough spot. They have an opportunity to redevelop and bring alive a central shopping district in the heart of town, or a thriving multi-use area with both shops and more residents on the edge of town. But it doesn’t seem possible they do both successfully.
It’s time for the taxpayers to be alert, learn what’s going on and let the governing body know their own ideas as taxpayers on how they want to see the future of their community.
