Posted on 03/09/2026 1:28:58 PM PDT by Morgana
A failing New Jersey shopping center could soon be demolished and replaced with hundreds of apartments under a controversial redevelopment plan.
The near-vacant Raritan Mall has long been described by locals as an ‘eyesore’ after years of empty storefronts and declining business.
Developers now want to tear down the aging complex and replace it with a five-story project containing 276 apartments, according to plans submitted by Raritan Mall Urban Renewal.
The proposal would also include 42 affordable housing units and ground-floor retail space.
A second retail area, within an existing structure that formerly housed a bank, would include parking and landscaped gardens.
It's unclear how long this project will take and when construction would begin.
The New Jersey mall has remained mostly vacant since 2016, when supermarket giant Stop & Shop officially closed.
This year, the only remaining storefronts are Indian restaurant Paradise Biryani Pointe and discount store Deal Hub - despite the center originally being designed for 15 retail tenants.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Here’s a 198 year old photo-mall converted into apartments ten years ago
https://www.businessinsider.com/americas-first-shopping-mall-is-now-micro-apartments-2016-10
Even there I see many empty storefronts...so many that I wonder how it remains in operation. The only times I go there are in bad weather because it's a great place for 'mall walkers".
A big reason this mall is near empty is that some years ago or so it flooded up 4 feet in all the stores. And as development keeps encroaching on the river downstream, the risk of further flooding keeps increasing. It is not a smart place to put much beyond tennis courts.
As a kid in the 80’s, I used to like to go the the Phillipsburg Mall and always left with Cindy’s Cinnamon Rolls.
Many of the same people that are responsible for the mall closing will be the same people that will occupy the “affordable housing”.
The mall I grew up around experienced that very thing. A bad element began to frequent it,legitimate paying mall customers went elsewhere and now it has closed down.
Now the newer mall is going down the same road.
To date there have been 2 shootings in less than a year.
The undesirables have arrived like a swarm of locusts, devouring everything and ruining it for everyone else.
“Online shopping killed the shopping mall”
That’s not the only....see my post 25.
The malls that have survived around here are the ones that had free parking and one level. I suspect it was because of the free parking that led to their long term success.
The mall in Charleston went down because of the B&O tax the City added. So all the shops left and went outside the city. Lease was too high, had to pay to park, then a stupid B&O tax on top of all that. So everyone just got up and left. Democrats never learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2mT58ZaDKs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwXM58qJuQ
I have a feeling Bezos employs a certain teen demographic to frequent malls. There were no malls where I grew up but when we would visit family it was always fun to go to the mall. The parents would drop us off and we could stay all day, catch a movie, play video games, waste some time at the record store. One even had a bowling ally. Now, you take your life in your hands going to a modern mall. The only one I can think of that was enjoyable the last 15 years was Ala Muana mall in Honolulu where they had security on every corner and most of them were just to stop people from throwing things at the koi in the ponds.
There are two kinds of malls:
1. The malls the white people go to.
2. The malls the white people used to go to.
-Chris Rock
Amazon killed the mall.
“Amazon killed the mall”
The malls killed the downtowns
The Westminster Mall here in SoCal has closed. I knew they were on their way out and wanted to get a batch of Cinnabon’s before they closed, but I didn’t make it. Drat.
The New Oldsmobiles are in early this year!
And I have actually driven through a mall (car show)
Our mall us thriving.
Has been for 23 years. Some things change. When Sears left they took the entire anchor store on the south end down completely and built out more of a strip mall feel. Several new restaurants and shops like Ulta, H&M, etc.
Still has a Macy’s and a Becks and, believe it or not, a JC Penney.
A lot of clothing and shoe stores.
Mallrats movie is 31 years old. All those kids would be doing something else today.
60s phased out drive-in movies. 90s/00s phased out malls.
Now kids live inside and phone order delivery food (and then complain about being broke)
That was a nice mall, I loved going to Bon Ton....
“The new Oldsmobiles are in”
“Yeah”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.