- Manalapan Mall
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Manalapan Mall Location Manalapan, New Jersey, U.S. Coordinates 40°17′31″N 74°17′58″W / 40.2920°N 74.2995°WCoordinates: 40°17′31″N 74°17′58″W / 40.2920°N 74.2995°W Opening date 1971 Closing date 1998 Parking Lighted Lot No. of floors 1 The Manalapan Mall opened in 1971 on the corner of U.S. 9 southbound and Symmes Road in Manalapan Township, New Jersey. The mall served the Marlboro Township and Freehold area.
The mall's first phase (and only phase) was anchored by Steinbach, and had 25 stores attached to its left side. The second phase was to include a Macy's, a Sears, and would have grown to a total of 100 stores. But the plans were shelved because of financial problems. By the 1980s, plans were submitted for a super-regional mall, the Freehold Raceway Mall, about 5 miles (8 km) south on Route 9. In 1996, the Steinbach chain was bought out, and the Manalapan Mall store was not included in the purchase.[1] The former Steinbach store was converted to a Value City location.[2] In late October, 2008, Value City declared bankruptcy and announced they would close all stores by early 2009.[3] As of January 14, 2009, the Value City store appears to have closed. The store became a P. C. Richard & Son, which opened on November 11, 2011.
A proposal in the early 1990s to expand the deteriorating mall faced opposition from neighbors fearing increased traffic.[4] By the late 1990s, while Freehold Raceway Mall was prospering, Manalapan Mall was becoming a dead mall. In 1998, the mall, except for the Value City, was torn down to make way for a big-box Epi-Center with a total of 400,000 square feet (40,000 m2) of retail space, some four times the area of the original site.[5]
The Value City store site, which is currently empty, is a stand-alone store while the south and west corners of the old mall were turned into Wegmans, The Wiz (which was closed in 2003 and replaced by HomeGoods), Dick's Sporting Goods (which later moved to a space at the Freehold Raceway Mall and was replaced by Marshall's) and a Target. Other smaller businesses in the Manalapan EpiCentre are Applebee's, Verizon, Eyechic Optical Boutique, Gary's Jewelers, Gamestop, Cucina Alessi Italian Ristorante, and The Turning Point.
In 2005, plans were released to build an alternative mall facility that would include 800,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of space, including retailers, a multiples theater and hotel.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "Six Sites Not Included in Sale Changes are in Store North Jersey is Saying Goodbye to Steinbach", The Record (Bergen County), January 4, 1996.
- ^ Ohio-Based Value City to Convert or Close New Jersey Steinbach Stores., Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, February 6, 1996. "Value City Department Stores Inc. plans to convert the Steinbach stores in Seaview Square, Ocean Township, and Manalapan Mall, Manalapan Township, to Value City stores by May 31."
- ^ Value City files for bankruptcy. Business First Tuesday, October 28, 2008
- ^ Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Manalapan; Despite Growth, the Ambiance Is Rural", The New York Times, April 30, 1995, accessed April 26, 2007.
- ^ New Jersey Mall to be Torn Down, Replaced by One Four Times Larger", Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, July 15, 1998.
- ^ "Topic of the Day; Manalapan mall plan", Asbury Park Press, April 13, 2005.
External links
Categories:- Demolished shopping malls in the United States
- Shopping malls in New Jersey
- Shopping malls established in 1971
- Buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey
- Manalapan Township, New Jersey
- U.S. Route 9
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