Sale Of Portion Of Bridgewater Commons Mall Approved By Township Council

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — The Township Council has given the green light to the owner of the Bridgewater Commons to sell off a portion of its property.

At the Jan. 22 Council meeting, the Council approved a resolution to allow Pacific Retail, which acquired the property in May 2023, to transfer ownership of the Life Style Center(The Village at Bridgewater Commons) to Urban Edge Properties.

Pacific Retail will use the proceeds of the sale to reduce the debt of the Mall.

"This will allow Pacific to be in a better position to refinance the debt on the Mall in 2027," according to the resolution.

The original redevelopment agreement with Bridgewater Commons, which opened in 1988, the Township received a portion of rent each year until a breakpoint level was reached.

In September 2006, The Village at Bridgewater Commons opened, which has since grown to include retailers such as Maggiano's, Chipotle, Cava, Shake Shack, Millburn Deli, and more.

However, because of the number of vacancies, the stabilizedrent level was not reached, and the Township did not receive any sharing of rents for The Villages.

With the sale, a new redevelopment agreement removes the annual rent obligation payments by Urban Edge Properties to the Township. Urban would only have to pay taxes.

In exchange for the sale, Pacific proposed undertaking the obligation of paying to the Township any rent sharing for the Life Style Center(The Village). The payments would be broken down to the Township as follows:

• September 2026 - $26,000
• September 2027 - $26,000
• September 2028 - $26,000
• September 2029 - $50,000
• September 2030 and each September thereafter - $75,000

Township Attorney Chris Corsini gave "100 percent of the legal credit to my colleague Bill Savo, who has been striking deals for this township for 25 years and struck another good one here."

Corsini added that the payment scheme is almost entirely Savo's construction, "which was going from zero to an escalating scale that will benefit the township into the 2030s."

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.