Newport Centre (shopping mall)

The Newport Centre, as seen from the second floor.

The Newport Centre, as seen from the third floor.

Newport Centre is a shopping mall in Jersey City, New Jersey that opened in 1987. It is a major component of the enormous Newport, Jersey City mixed-use community on the Hudson River waterfront across from lower Manhattan, New York. One of eleven shopping malls in New Jersey managed by Simon Property Group, Inc., it is located at 30 Mall Drive West, and is bound by Henderson Street on the west, Mall Drive East on the east, 6th Street on the south, and Newport Parkway on the north. The mall has a gross leasable area of 1,149,147 sq ft (106,759.2 m²).^[1] The one-million plus square-foot super-regional mall is the first of its size in Hudson County.

There are three floors to the mall complex, which houses a number of stores, including anchor stores J. C. Penney, Kohl's, Macy's and Sears. The top floor has a food court and an AMC Theatres. The mall is a part of the Newport Complex, which includes the Newport Tower, the third tallest building in Jersey City. Both it and the Hudson Mall are in an "Urban Enterprise Zone", reducing the state sales tax on purchases from 7% to 3.5% (with no sales tax on clothing).

Payment is required to park in the mall garage. The mall can be reached via the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and PATH systems. It is served by New Jersey Transit buses and is the terminus for routes from Jersey City Heights and the North Hudson towns of Guttenberg, North Bergen, West New York and Union City.

History

The mall was first in planning stages in 1984. The mall was originally going to have anchors Hahne's (current J. C. Penney), Stern's (was Macy*s, now Kohl's), and Sears. Due to Hahne's financial troubles, a JCPenney store was planned instead. In 1989, Filene's Basement opened on the first level, as a mall expansion. In 2000, the Filene's Basement was converted into Pay/Half. In 2001, Federated Department stores closed it Stern's division and the Newport Center location was re-branded as Macy's, Inc. The mall was originally planning on building the current Macy*s, instead of using the converted store. The ex-Sterns/Macy's building was a small store called Fashion Liquidators for 3 months in 2005. Then in November 2005, the mall announced plans to add more upscale elements to the mall. It was announced that Kohl's would occupy the old Stern's/Macy's building. The mall also announced the openings of several new, upscale retailers. Kohl's opened in October 2006. In 2007, the mall celebrated its 20th Anniversary. Since then, the mall has been heavily renovated with new flooring, new paint, new lighting structures, new scenery, and new upscale stores Armani Exchange, a new Bath & Body Works, Bebe Sport, Brookstone, Carol's Daughter, Coach, Hollister, Swarovski, and Sephora, The mall also celebrated 20 years by having performances by Deborah Gibson and Cheyenne Kimball.

In July 2010, the former Forever 21 was closed with plans to expand the store to the right side of the JCPenney wing. The stores in the area, f.y.e and Super A Dollar were moved to other parts of the mall. The other spots in the side of the wing were vacancies. Forever 21 moved to a temporary store until the new store opened in November. The new store is 21,632 sq. feet, over four times the size of the original, which was only 5,215 square feet (484.5 m²). The new store carries the original Forever 21 brand, the Heritage 1981 brand, the Twelve by Twelve brand, the love21 brand, an extended selection of jewelry and accessories, and a men's line in the 21Men brand.

Coming Soon

H&M will open a two-floor, 20,000 sq. foot location Holiday 2011 in the Sears wing. This opening has moved LensCrafters and Kay Jewelers downstairs and closed A Dollar, Carlton Cards, and Castle Furniture.

Johnny Rockets will be opening in the food court in place of Mrs. Fields and Hale & Hearty Soups.

Adidas is opening Holiday 2011 on the lower level next to A|X Armani Exchange.

Layout

The mall has three stories. The building is rectangular, oriented north-south. There is one spinal hall that runs this way through the structure, near the west end. It is on the first two floors of the mall. Sears is at the North end of this corridor, while J.C. Penney is at the south. On floors 1&2, there are also three transverse corridors running east-west. The central one ends at the main hall in the west, while at the east, is anchored by Pay Half on the first floor. On the second floor, it extends eastward onto a pedestrian bridge over the light rail and through an adjacent building before descending to Washington Boulevard, where one may cross to the PATH station or the ferry dock. This central transverse hall separates Macy's to the south and Kohl's to the north. The two other transverse corridors lead to the exits on the west side of the building (the parking lot) or to Macy's or Kohl's in the east. Direct access to the eastern facade of the building (the light rail station) is provided by exits from Kohl's and Macy's, as well as a short passageway adjacent to Pay Half. While all of the stores are on the first two levels, the third floor houses the mall food court and the Cineplex Odeon. The food court is above the intersection of the two main corridors. The theater is above the central transverse hall.

The mall has typical services available. Restrooms are located by the food court, as well as in the anchor stores. There are various stations with vending machines scattered throughout. Escalators are at and below the food court, as well as in the anchors and near the intersections of the north and south transverse halls with the spinal hall. The main elevator is by the food court, and also in the anchor stores. Smarte Carte offers massage chairs and strollers to customers.

Macy's, as seen from the lightrail station.

References

1. ^ Newport Centre, International Council of Shopping Centers. Accessed September 21, 2006.

External links

• Newport Centre official website
• Newport Centre within the official Newport website

Coordinates: 40°43′37″N 74°2′16″W / 40.72694°N 74.03778°W / 40.72694; -74.03778