Town officials have been eyeing the 126,000-square-foot plaza that encompasses 19 acres for redevelopment for several years.
ROBBINSVILLE -- The Foxmoor Shopping Center on Route 33 has been deemed an "area in need of redevelopment" by the Robbinsville planning board, the township said in a statement.
The assessment, made Wednesday night at the board's meeting, is the latest chapter for the center, which has several vacant stores and by many accounts has faltered since its anchor grocery store Thriftway closed in 2011.
Town officials have been eyeing the 126,000-square-foot plaza that encompasses 19 acres for redevelopment for several years.
At the planning board meeting, Stuart Wiser, of Remington & Vernick Engineers, detailed a report on the center, the township statement said.
The center meets three key criteria in order to be designated an "area in need of redevelopment," and only one is required by law.
The report found 29 percent of the existing units and 52 percent of the overall space is vacant. Those percentages, according Wiser, allow it to also be labeled under the category of an "unhealthy" business environment, the township statement said.
Robbinsville talks plans for shopping center
Also on the table for the site is possible condemnation or eminent domain, but township officials say that's not an automatic once it's deemed an area in need of redevelopment.
And the planning board offered "no opinion" as to whether the property meets the criteria for condemnation or eminent domain, the township's statement said.
The planning board did say the township council should discuss the acquisition or possible annexation of nearly three acres of the plaza that's in Hamilton Township. That section includes s Friendly's, Massimo's, Ploy Siam and FunniBonz restaurants.
The town said such discussion by the council was not expected to start right away.
The planning board meeting also included a brief presentation by two representatives of LNR Property Management, LLC - which is seeking to purchase the foreclosed property, the township's statement said.
LNR bought the Lawrence Shopping Center at a sheriff's sale in 2013.
Colliers International is currently managing the center.
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