CLOSTER — The renovated, 208,000-square-foot Closter Plaza will begin to emerge this month, having gone through years of preliminary court action over a bankruptcy and a legal challenge that ultimately failed.
Permits for demolition and building have already been issued, and construction by developer Edens should be completed by the end of 2016, local officials said.
The long-awaited rejuvenation will update the design, reconstruct the retail spaces and enrich the merchandising offerings of the mall, which was originally built in the 1960s and is in need of a makeover. The developer also will expand the parking.
Local officials say the renovated center, which will continue to include the movie theater and pizzeria, will breathe new life into the area on Vervalen Street. The Kmart store is leaving at the end of the summer, and the vacant building will be leased to another store, Edens executives said, but stopped short of revealing further details.
A new building will be constructed for the mall’s anchor, Whole Foods, which is expected to open its doors in 2016.
«I think Closter deserves a better place than what’s currently there,» said David Germakian, director of development for the South Carolina developer Edens. «The community has been more than patient.»
Germakian said he cannot yet divulge the roughly 30 retailers that are set to move in. But he said Edens is «targeting national, regional and local tenants» and that «this shopping center will function as a daily gathering place where the community residents can shop, dine, work out and reconnect with friends.»
Some of the stores will be gutted and rebuilt while others will remain open during the construction, Mayor John Glidden said. «This has been in the works for 10 years now. We’ve all worked very hard to get this done, and now it’s finally coming to fruition.»
The value of the current shopping center is $31 million, and it generates $670,635 in taxes for Closter, according to the Tax Department’s figures. The value of the reconstructed center and the ratables it will bring are predicted to be much higher, but officials could not provide numbers. Appraisals of the renovated property have not yet been conducted. Edens executives would not divulge the cost of the project.
Edens, a leading developer that owns several malls across the country, acquired the shopping center in 2012, after its owners, Aspi and Bakhtaver Irani, filed for bankruptcy. Edens purchased a 50 percent interest in the property, including management rights, and has invested millions of dollars in the renovation.
Borough officials attribute the slow progress on the mall project to a lawsuit filed by the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, which is headquartered in Montvale, against the Planning Board, Centennial AME Zion Church and Closter Marketplace. A&P claimed in the lawsuit, filed in March 2014, that the Planning Board lacked jurisdiction over the site plan because a shopping center is not a permitted use in that business area and, therefore, the issue should have been determined by the Board of Adjustment. State Superior Court Judge William Meehan ruled in January that A&P’s claims were without merit.
Arthur Chigaris, the Planning Board’s attorney, said the judge ruled in favor of the board, but the plaintiffs have appealed the decision to the Superior Court’s Appellate Division. A date for oral arguments has not yet been set. Meanwhile, construction may take place because the plaintiffs in the case did not file for an injunction to stop it, Chigaris said.
Not everyone was excited about the impending project.
Jesse Rosenblum, a local resident who had filed the lawsuit with A&P, said that the shopping center will be 500 parking spaces short by regulation.
«If the plaza had paid for the shortfall, it would have cost them $803,000. Instead, the borough was ripped off and they settled for $23,000,» he said. «They violated the provisions of land use. They made errors. They jammed in more cars than they should have. They aren’t going to make a pleasant shopping experience.»
Local officials, however, predict the updated mall would have a positive effect on the entire downtown.
«It will bring more traffic to the area and we hope it will carry over to the other end of town,» Glidden said.
Some are just happy to see the preliminaries coming to an end.
«I’ll believe it when I see it,» council President Arthur Dolson said. «It’s been an eyesore. They didn’t invest anything into that property for over 40 years.»
