The Monmouth Mall Redevelopment Debacle

The Monmouth Mall has been a mainstay in the community for local residents of our county and those who grew up in the Eatontown-Red Bank-Long Branch area. It has seen a number of changes over the decades, most notably the addition of a multiplex cinema movie theater and food court which represented an ambitious expansion of the mall at that time.

The role of the shopping mall in the American lifestyle has changed dramatically over the years as well. In the case of Monmouth Mall, it was always a different type of experience because of the way it was designed and expanded upon. Many longtime residents of the area, myself included, will tell you of stories of moving the car to other areas of the Mall because it was laid out so incongruently.

In retail terms, Monmouth Mall is and always has been, a convenience mall. It is a destination where shoppers, for the most part, come in to one or two stores and get in and out of the complex quickly. The facility is not ideally designed for walking the mall and staying around for an extended period of time. It is relatively small and can be walked in a rather abbreviated period of time.

However, for all of the quirks and flaws it may possess, many residents feel strongly about the mall it is “our mall”. In fact, the way Monmouth Mall is, the inherent character of the building and the anchor department stores: Macy’s, JC Penney, and Boscov’s; it all feels like home to me. I could not imagine it changing.

In February of this year, Jared Kushner, the owner of Kushner Companies, which owns the Monmouth Mall announced an outrageous redevelopment plan with an over $500 million “renovation” of the mall property that would dramatically alter the facility into something unrecognizable to the residents.

Kushner, it should be noted, is Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s son-in-law. He and his company have a new concept for the Monmouth Mall property which includes residential housing space, which has created enormous concern from the local residents because this plan calls for mixed use housing.

No Transparency

The other cause for concern is the overall lack of transparency displayed by the Mayor of Eatontown in the handling of the negotiations for this development plan. Instead of addressing the concerns that residents held relative to the proposed changes to the mall property, the mayor began holding closed meetings with the other parties involved. He has essentially shut out the people he is supposed to represent. This has caused frustration, resentment, and anger from a great deal of the residents.

In addition, those feelings are ratcheted up a level because the residents of that town feel they are being treated similarly with the land on the other side of Eatontown which is part of the former Fort Monmouth site. I have covered the development of the old fort site for years for a variety of local news sources and websites. I was grateful that a series of articles I did on that topic was acknowledged by local politicians and residents alike as being the most fair and balanced reporting on the fort revitalization plans.

The residents, in general, feel that they have been kept in the dark on the decisions being made to both of these huge properties. Those decisions hold an enormous impact on the quality of life for those residents.

Conversely, the Eatontown municipal government is making decisions based on the potential outcome that the Monmouth Mall could cease operations if Kushner gets frustrated enough with them. The mall represents the largest ratable tax generation center in the town.

Then, couple that with the fact that Eatontown has watched neighboring Oceanport struggle through the post-Fort Monmouth years and the changes to Monmouth Park and their horseracing operation, which represent the two largest ratable tax centers for Oceanport. That town has struggled and those efforts have been stifled further by the slow development of the Fort Monmouth site and the board (FMERA) which oversees the revitalization of that huge property.

The fear that Eatontown is making political decisions with is never a situation where good decisions get made. In fact, the proposals for the old Fort Monmouth site propose a large retail and residential “town square” concept for Eatontown, so they could have two of those proposed complexes within about two miles of each other.

Public Hearing Debacle

The public hearing on this matter was held last night and Mayor Dennis Connelly ignored requests by the residents to hold the meeting in a venue capable of holding a larger capacity. The borough hall was filled to the maximum under the fire code, so about 70 residents were pushed across into the firehouse to watch on closed circuit TV feeds that cut out frequently.

The measure to move the development proposal forward to overhaul Monmouth Mall passed on a 5-1 vote. This motion passed despite ardent opposition from a large number of residents. The development project was amended from the original proposal to remove the hotel from the plan, shift the setbacks for the development of the buildings from the roadway, and it eliminated a proposed rooftop golf course concept.

It should be noted that Monmouth Mall currently has 93% occupancy rate for the retail space and it turns a profit. It is not the picture of the quintessential struggling American shopping mall. Monmouth County and the proximity from Manhattan, is an area that traditionally frequents retail of all types.

The fear, anger, and frustration that the residents feel regarding this redevelopment proposal for Monmouth Mall is on three levels: the impact on traffic, a potential for increased crime with a mixed use concept, and the move to a higher-end retail center that will be redundant in the area.

The Three Issues

First, the impact on traffic is a huge and legitimate concern especially with those familiar with the area. Monmouth Mall sits at the crossroads of two state highways: Route 35 and Route 36. It is the busiest intersection in the town and among one of the most heavily traveled intersections in Eastern Monmouth County. The addition of the proposed housing units in this proposal coupled with the added retail, restaurant, and entertainment concepts will create a traffic nightmare for residents and visitors alike. That is not to mention people who commute into work in that area at one of the many industrial parks along the Route 35 corridor.

The proposal which was reviewed and approved last night does not take into account any infrastructure changes, which because those roads are all either state or county designated roadways, those changes would have to be approved through Trenton or Freehold respectively and would be at a considerable cost in tax dollars.

Next, the potential for increased crime with the mixed use concept being proposed for the mall property which is also a legitimate issue. The law of the State of New Jersey mandates that a percentage of the total of the units in a residential development be designated as affordable housing for residents of lower income demographics and other special considerations.

However, this proposed development was calling for rental housing which studies have shown can bring in added crime when compared to housing developed with townhouses or single family homes with the purpose of traditional ownership involved. The Monmouth Mall site has had some issues with crime over the past several years, just like any other large retail center, and the residents have concerns over how the new proposed concept would be secured. Those concerns have largely remained unaddressed.

It should be noted here that in my coverage of the Fort Monmouth site redevelopment and the saga going on there, the Eatontown officials had a much different tact, especially when it came to Howard Commons and other areas of the old military base with regard to housing. They felt strongly that they would not entertain any development offers for rental housing, the Eatontown officials only would consider bids that called for the development of permanent housing such as townhomes or single family homes.

Why the sudden reversal for the Mall site? It seems to me that they are capitulating to the demands of whatever Kushner wants in this proposal. The mixed use concept being proposed increases the likelihood that you could have access to the property that could leave the retail open-air shopping area exposed to higher potential criminal activity.

Some of the residents who are in favor of the proposal are quick to point out the consensus general opinion in these matters: that nobody really wants affordable housing and that I must mention here in fair balance. The access to housing that is affordable to single people, couples, and families in New Jersey is a major issue when viewed in the guise of the increased costs of rent prices across the area. The overall standard of living makes it very difficult for the average family to make ends meet. There is a lack of affordable housing in the area which the old Fort Monmouth site was supposed to fill the void on, but the residential development there has yet to materialize some ten years later.

The study regarding the amount of millennials who live with their parents and the overall statistics regarding the amount of families living together in larger numbers in New Jersey is also revealing. One study recently concluded that New Jersey leads the nation with millennials living with their parents because they cannot afford the cost of housing to live on their own. This is against the backdrop of a largely residential unit driven development plan for the Monmouth Mall site.

The final main concern is that the open-air concept being proposed is redundant for the area and that is a very valid point. A short drive away from Monmouth Mall is the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets which are an open-air concept, The Grove at Shrewsbury is an open-air concept with higher-end shops, and Pier Village in Long Branch is the same type of concept as the newly proposed development by Kushner.

I would agree with some of those residents here and say that I agree that at some point the concept is redundant and the market is oversaturated. The other issue I would point out, having worked at the Mall in a few different roles over the many years I have lived in this area, is that there is a need for the shopper from the middle class demographic that would get potentially eliminated here. There are many shoppers working with fixed incomes, families on budgets, and senior citizens that would be “priced out” of the Monmouth Mall if it made the dramatic change it seems to be on the road to making at this point.

That is a legitimate concern for area residents as well. However, in the end, this whole situation boils down to poor planning by the Eatontown council by having an expansion of residential and retail in the busiest intersection in the town. Many residents have stated that the situation has been poorly handled by Mayor Connelly from the beginning because he did not listen to the residents and their concerns about this redevelopment, he just saw dollar signs in the form of ratable tax revenue.

Bottom Line

The fact that the same concept could open less than two miles away at Fort Monmouth and compete for dollars with the new Mall concept seems really short-sighted to me. The potential for increased crime is another major concern with the proposal that is valid through study data from similar developments in other areas of the country.

The bottom line here is that this situation is all about people feeling angry and frustrated that their voices were not heard. I know through experience in covering many topics and events, and many issues related to social issues that this is among the worst type of emotion that people can feel.

Many residents in Eatontown were left last night feeling undervalued, their concerns were left not validated, and their fears were not acknowledged. All of these factors create conditions where the people involved feel disempowered, insignificant, and unimportant which are all ways that any elected body should not want their residents to feel under any circumstances.

That is the real issue behind the redevelopment of the Monmouth Mall site, and anyone else who tries to explain it differently or steer the talk toward residential development; all of those other factors in the end are all just window dressing.