Another mall bites the dust as controversial shopping center is set to be bulldozed for 276 apartments

Daily Mail UK ^ | March 9, 2026 | JULIA DZURILLAY

[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.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: bitesthedust; bulldozed; whiterednecks

[Morgana]

Going to the mall as a teen was so much fun. Record stores, book stores, clothing, jewelry. Then the food court. Every weekend I would go and look around.

The mall I went to is in Charleston, West Virginia. It had a beautiful fountain in the center. Ten years ago I went back to that mall and the place was dead. The fountain was not working and someone said it cost too much to fix. Most of the stores were not rented out. The main stores were gone which were Sears, Macy's, Montgomery Ward, and JC Pennys. Now a big section has been torn down. have no idea what they are going to do with the rest.

Strange as it is the Mall in Barboursville, West Virginia is still doing extremely well and turning a profit.

[stevio]

“Affordable housing”, yea.

[freepertoo]

I hate to see the malls go. They were so much FUN in my youth. I remember the excitement when the first started springing up.

[SuperLuminal]

Yes indeed...
“Afordab;e housing” is code for drug gangs, migrant invaders, and all other manner of criminal filth...

[freepertoo]

The Mall in Dover, DE near me is doing well, too, but it just doesn’t have the same feel.

[Iron Munro]

Soon our cities will mostly consist of DNC campaign offices, government wefare offices and free high-rise housing for illegaals and 5th generation welfare queens.

[smokingfrog]

I wonder if anyone has ever converted an old shopping mall into apartments?

[mitchjackson1972]

We cannot just deport illegals; we need to deport all the children and grandchildren of every illegal who has been here since 1945, and if Trump does not do it nor Vance then we will have plenty of people stepping up to the plate who will

[Celtic Conservative]

They built too many of them too close to each other. There were tax incentives offered to build them in the 70’s and 80’s. Once shopping habits changed and online stores became a thing many were doomed.

CC

[freedomlover]

I wonder if anyone has ever converted an old shopping mall into apartments?

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The septic handling alone would be a real challenge. Also codes have likely changed a lot eg re fire barriers. At some point total demo and stick rebuild is just better all around.

[Hartlyboy]

The mall in Dover lost a number of tenants that made them a destination in my younger days but my wife was a dedicated shopper at Boscov’s until she passed. At least they seem to be doing OK and help anchor the mall.

[Kenny Bania]

Another mall bites the dust..

Wasn't that a Queen song?

[catnipman]

Chris Rock: “There are two kinds of malls: malls that white people go to, and malls that white people use to go to.”

[HKMk23]

So, I’m guessing the “controversy” revolves around the number of “affordable housing” units involved, because — if you’ve been there, you know — when the question is, “Who’s up for 42 ‘affordably housed’ neighbors?” the answer is “Nobody.”

[Cen-Tejas]

I owned 2 stores in a major and very successful mall for 10 years. When the leases got close to expiring, I said to myself “this place is going down hill”! So, I did not renew. I just moved out. Since the mall was full of stores, it continued to do well for a few years.

Then, The City, dumbest in the land, built a nice public bus facility across the street. At that point, the white trash, the brothers and the sisters and the Tejanos started hanging around. At that point, it didn’t take long. Then, the City, after destroying the property, bought it and made a poor boys college out of part of it.

[Responsibility2nd]

Every Town’s got two malls they got the white mall and the mall white people used to go to cuz ain’t nothing in the black Mall.

~~~ Chris Rock

[chajin]

I grew up in the 60s near the Cherry Hill Mall. In the 70s, I went to the Springfield Mall in PA. Moved to FL, went to the Palm Beach Mall, then moved to central FL, went to the Winter Haven Mall, then the Lakeland Mall, then the Eagle Ridge Mall. Now I’m in Denton TX and have no idea if there’s a mall. All of the above except Eagle Ridge are either gone or soon will be. It was another time.

[ladyjane]

Boscovs is amazing. I had never heard of them and still never never been in one but their name came up when I was googling to find Stonewall Kitchen jams to give as Christmas presents. Around Thanksgiving time they had free shipping and 35% off retail. Plus, as a new customer I got an additional 10% off.

[Leaning Right]

Now it’s time for a tie clasp story.

Maybe 10 years ago I had to go to a business meeting, and needed to tie clasp. I like to buy local, so I went to a local strip mall. I checked a couple of department stores there. No tie clasps. A jewelry store did have one, solid silver at $75. No thanks.

Then I went to Amazon. Many, many tie clasps to choose from, all $10 and under. I kinda felt stupid for wasting my time and gas driving out to that mall.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Which malls aren’t being bulldozed to be developed into multi-family housing? That is the fate of pretty much every mall in the country other than the very top malls. Online shopping killed the shopping mall. As a child of the late 70s / early 80s who grew up around mall culture, I feel sad at the loss. But time marches on.