24-Hour Fitness To Open At Shoppes Of Middletown: Report

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — In addition the Wegmans, a 24-Hour Fitness gym will be opening as part of the Shoppes at Middletown shopping complex, according to the Asbury Park Press. 24-Hour Fitness signed a lease to open a 37,000-square-foot fitness center at the site, the newspaper reported.

The massive shopping complex will be built at the intersection of King's Highway East and and Kanes Lane in Middletown. It will have 30 total stores.

The Shoppes at Middletown, or "Village 35" as it used to be called, will be built where the original Food Circus store was located, with the infamous Calico the Evil Clown sign. The store is now home to Circus Liquors.

So far, Wegmans and CMX, an eight-screen dine-in movie theater, are the only two major confirmed tenants, but now we can add 24-Hour Fitness to that list.

Construction at the Shoppes at Middletown is scheduled to begin in spring 2020, the APP reported.

Developer National Realty Development Corp. (NRDC) is eager to get more tenants. Circus Liquors said they will be staying there, as will the pet supply store, Pet Supplies Plus, as well as a nail salon.

Toll Brothers also wants to build 320 new homes, including 80 affordable housing units, behind the shopping center.

Once it opens, the Wegmans will give serious competition to Saker Shop-Rite in Middletown, the Whole Foods in Red Bank and the Stop & Shop.

The Shoppes at Middletown is not welcome by all Middletown residents, and some residents have spent the past several years trying to prevent the complex from being built. Residents who are opposed say it would bring more traffic and congestion to the area, and degrade the environment. They say Middletown suffers from too much development already.