Bridgewater Commons

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Bridgewater Commons
Bridgewatermall08.jpg
Southern side of Bridgewater Commons
LocationBridgewater, New Jersey
Coordinates40°35′11″N 74°37′06″W / 40.586492°N 74.618415°W / 40.586492; -74.618415Coordinates: 40°35′11″N 74°37′06″W / 40.586492°N 74.618415°W / 40.586492; -74.618415
Address400 Commons Way
Opening dateFebruary 26, 1988; 33 years ago (February 26, 1988)
DeveloperThe Hahn Company
Management
OwnerJPMorgan Asset Management
No. of stores and services170 [1]
No. of anchor tenants3 (2 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area970,000 sq ft (90,000 m2)
No. of floors3 (2 in Bloomingdale's)
ParkingParking lot and 3-story parking garage east of AMC
Public transit accessBus transport NJ Transit NJ Transit bus: 65, 114
Websitebridgewatercommons.com

Bridgewater Commons is a fully enclosed upscale shopping mall located in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. The mall is located at the intersection of Route 22 and Route 202/206 and borders I-287. The mall opened on February 26, 1988 and has a gross leasable area of 900,000 sq ft (84,000 m2).[2][3] Bridgewater Commons is owned by JPMorgan Asset Management.

The mall was expanded in 2005 and 2006 to include a lifestyle center called "The Village at Bridgewater Commons". It is anchored by Crate & Barrel and Maggiano's Little Italy, and contains 15 other stores and restaurants. The mall is currently filled with 158 stores and has a total of 170 stores.

The mall's anchors stores are Bloomingdale's and Macy's with one vacant anchor last occupied by Lord & Taylor. This mall also features an AMC Dine-In Theatre and a XXI Forever.

History[]

In the 1960s, a township redevelopment agency combined various plots of land in Bridgewater, and then it declared the entire area blighted so that the land could be sold to one developer.[4] Bridgewater township signed a contract with The Hahn Company, a California-based mall-developer, in 1985.[4] The Prudential's real estate division joined the development project later.[4][5]

In 1986, Macy's announced they would take over the space originally intended to become the now retired, Bamberger's, after acquiring most of their stores.[6][7]

Bridgewater Commons opened in February 1988 with anchor stores Macy's, Hahnes and Stern's. On June 18, 1988, a Disney Store opened, which was the first Disney Store located outside of California.[8] On October 18, 1989, Hahnes changed to Lord & Taylor.[9] In 2001, Macy's announced that two Stern's stores will close in the same year, and reopen as Bloomingdale's stores in 2002. Bridgewater was one of them. The other store that was affected was the Wayne location, located at the Willowbrook Mall. The mall complex pursued a major expansion in 1991 to add two eight-story office buildings to the complex, which would include 578,000 sq ft (53,700 m2). of office space and a 300-room hotel. The effort was initiated as part of a longstanding urban renewal project.[10] By 2000, with a 347-room Bridgewater Marriott Hotel already under the construction, the mall's developers pushed ahead to develop the office towers planned for the complex.[11] The two towers later opened, occupied mostly by Brother Industries and Sanofi-Aventis.

Since opening, mall management and Somerset Medical Center have sponsored a HealthHike mall walking program to give walkers an indoors, secured, and climate-controlled environment in which to walk. Anyone can obtain a name tag to enter the mall starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. The program also includes a monthly meeting at 8:30 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month from October through June to discuss health-related topics. Since opening, the mall has also featured an annual Christmas display and kids photo opportunity with Santa Claus in addition to a photo opportunity with the Easter Bunny around Easter time.[12][13]

In 1993, Bridgewater Commons became one of the first malls in the state to ban smoking, joining 300 of 1800 malls nationwide that prohibited smoking on mall grounds.[14]

In 2003, McCormick & Schmick's opened.[15]

The Village at Bridgewater Commons officially opened on Saturday, September 23, 2006, along with anchors: Crate & Barrel and Maggiano's Little Italy, which opened a month before.[16]

As of November 2008, the Food Court has reopened after its extensive renovation.[17] Some of the restaurants within have reopened as well.

In 2008, the original Disney Store closed its location after 22 years of operations, but it later reopened on August 13, 2016.[18] Also, in 2008, CVS Pharmacy, an original tenant, closed and was replaced by ZARA, which has since been closed and replaced with Uniqlo.[19]

In August 2010, The Cheesecake Factory officially opened for business at Bridgewater Commons.[20]

The mall has become a major focus in Bridgewater and an attraction throughout the area, bringing new residents to the township and shoppers to the mall which "dominates the retail industry in Somerset County."[21]

In 2017, Forever 21's Riley Rose store opened on the lower level of the mall.[22]

In January 2019, McCormick & Schmick's, located right next door to The Cheesecake Factory, abruptly closed. Then 13 months later, Uncle Julio’s opened their first New Jersey location in the former M&S space.[23]

On November 1, 2019, Forever 21 announced they would close all their Riley Rose stores, including their Bridgewater location. It is currently vacant as of 2021.[24]

In November 2019, Brookfield Properties sold the mall to JPMorgan Asset Management.[25]

On January 31, 2020, Marriott opened another hotel about 3/4 of a mile away from the mall, called, AC Hotels by Marriott, along with a rooftop restaurant, called The Bradford, which opened a month after the hotel opened. During the construction of the hotel, a brand-new Zinburger opened its 17th location, but later closed all of their restaurants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be replaced with Tommy's Tavern + Tap, and it will be their final location to open in a New Jersey Zinburger location.[26][27][28]

In January 2021, both Hanna Andersson, a German-based children's clothing store, and GameStop, abruptly closed their doors.

On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing all of their stores, including the Bridgewater Commons location. The store closed on February 23, 2021.[29]

On May 20, 2021, Disney announced that they would close 11 additional Disney Stores nationwide, with the Bridgewater Commons location included on the list. The store's final day of operation was June 16, 2021.[30][31]

On June 30, 2021, Uniqlo, Starbucks Coffee & Aldo closed permanently.[32] However, the Starbucks sister location, located at the Village at Bridgewater Commons, was unaffected prior to the imminent closure of the other location and still remains open.

On September 15, 2021, it was announced that Crate & Barrel was considering shuttering its store by the end of the year, and for a medical group to take over its building.[33]

References[]

  1. ^ "Bridgewater Commons".
  2. ^ "International Council of Shopping Centers: Bridgewater Commons". October 3, 2006. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  3. ^ "Rockaway Townsquare". Simon Property Group, Inc. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c Rundquist, Jeanette (July 7, 1991). "Bridgewater Office Complex Stalled as Economy Hinders Developers". The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey).
  5. ^ Ali, Sam; Berkin, George (May 5, 1997). "Robert Beck of Prudential dies at 71: Rose from salesman to company CEO]". The Star-Ledger. (Newark, New Jersey). p. 1.
  6. ^ Verdon, Joan. "Bamberger's stores are gone but impact lives on". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  7. ^ Lisicky, Michael J. (November 6, 2017). Abraham and Straus: It's Worth a Trip from Anywhere. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6367-7.
  8. ^ "New Jersey Disney to Open Store in Somerset". The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey). June 16, 1988. p. C3.
  9. ^ Rundquist, Jeanette (October 19, 1989). "Lord & Taylor Opens New Store at the Bridgewater Commons". The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey).
  10. ^ "Hoping to Defy the Odds in Bridgewater; Developers Bet On Office Center, Citing Location", The New York Times, February 17, 1991. p. R8
  11. ^ Garbarine, Rachelle (May 21, 2000). "In the Region/ New Jersey; Bridgewater Commons Is Entering the Home Stretch Offices and hotel will complete the master plan for the mall". The New York Times. pp. RE9.
  12. ^ Richardson, Kara. "Central Jersey retailers hoping for busy Black Friday". Gannett. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  13. ^ Loyer, Susan. "Local walkers get healthy at Bridgewater mall". Gannett. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  14. ^ "2 Big Malls Ban Smoking". The New York Times. October 8, 1993. pp. B6.
  15. ^ www.bizjournals.com https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2003/08/11/daily24.html. Retrieved April 20, 2021. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ "2006-09-23.pdf" (PDF).
  17. ^ Heyman, Lois. "Bridgewater Commons food court reopen for business". Gannett. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  18. ^ "Disney Store Returns To Bridgewater Commons". Bridgewater, NJ Patch. August 5, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  19. ^ Josh (September 26, 2010), CVS - Bridgewater, NJ, retrieved April 13, 2021
  20. ^ "Cheesecake Factory Opens Monday at Bridgewater Commons". Bridgewater, NJ Patch. August 17, 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  21. ^ Cheslow, Jerry (December 29, 2002). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Bridgewater, N.J.; Where the Downtown Is a Shopping Mall Residents are drawn by good schools, low taxes, housing variety". The New York Times. pp. J5.
  22. ^ Brookman, Faye (December 23, 2017). "Forever 21 Opens Eighth Riley Rose". WWD. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  23. ^ "Uncle Julio's To Open 1st NJ Location In Bridgewater Tuesday". Bridgewater, NJ Patch. February 24, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  24. ^ "Riley Rose is closing its stores and website". cosmeticsbusiness.com. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  25. ^ "Brookfield Snaps Up JPMorgan's U.S. Mall Stakes in Multi-Billion Deal". Bloomberg.com. November 13, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  26. ^ "Bridgewater's Zinburger Closes, New Tavern To Replace It". Bridgewater, NJ Patch. September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  27. ^ Deak, Mike. "AC Hotel opens in Bridgewater with rooftop bar forthcoming". MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  28. ^ Deak, Mike. "Bridgewater: Tommy's Tavern + Tap replacing Zinburger across from Commons mall". MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  29. ^ Bomey, Nathan. "Lord & Taylor going out of business: Store closings, liquidation sales begin". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  30. ^ "Bridgewater Commons". stores.shopdisney.com. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  31. ^ "Disney Store: Next 11 closures are stores in CA, NJ, NY, UT, leaving KY, PR | DisKingdom.com". May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  32. ^ "Starbucks, Aldo Closes In Bridgewater Commons". Bridgewater, NJ Patch. June 30, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  33. ^ Deak, Mike. "Crate & Barrel may be leaving Bridgewater Commons. Here's what could replace it". MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved November 9, 2021.

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