Several big retailers will be opening throughout this summer at a new mall in North Bergen near the Bergen County border.
Vornado Realty Trust has been developing the area along Tonnelle Avenue and 91st Street over the last few years. Two restaurants, Applebee’s and El Polo Loco, opened last year.
Vitamin Shoppe, which already has its headquarters in North Bergen, is expected to be one of the first big stores to open in May, with Staples and Pet Smart following in June. T-Mobile, Sleepy’s and Payless ShoeSource are slated to open in August of 2009.
North Bergen Town Administrator Christopher Pianese said that according to Vornado, Walmart will not be open until early 2010, but construction should be completed this year. There is also a Walmart in nearby Secaucus.
Pianese said that not only will the mall be a new addition for residents, but it will likely attract Bergen County residents as well, since the “Blue Laws” in that county prohibit stores from being open on Sundays.
While Vornado has continued construction around the area, the township has also been seeing that certain road improvements are complete before Tonnelle Avenue gets hit with more traffic, an area that is often bottlenecked now.
While the township is busy passing their resolutions to allow for these changes, Vornado and the New Jersey Department of Transportation have not yet signed a final agreement regarding the widening of Tonnelle Avenue and the addition of a designated left turn lane on 91st Street, but Pianese said that all indications are “positive.”
“The state was receptive to the plan,” said Pianese.
Making 88th Street go through
Right now, 88th Street stops just east of Tonnelle Avenue and then briefly starts again. But due to several agreements between the town and Vornado, the town will acquire from Vornado the patch of land in between where the street stops and starts. Then, the town will align 88th Street through that land and allow Vornado to use the very end of the street for development.
In order to do that, the township is officially vacating the portion of the street west of Tonnelle Avenue so that Vornado can develop it.
Pianese said Vornado will pay all costs of the project.
Originally, an ordinance allowing North Bergen to give that portion of the street to Vornado was introduced at commissioners meetings on Jan. 14 and 28, but it was reintroduced on Feb. 11 because of a few changes.
The vacation was also supposed to allow Tonnelle Avenue to be widened to allow for a designated left-hand turn lane at 88th Street, but Pianese said that their traffic consultant, Dolan & Dean, suggested otherwise.
“The widening to create that other lane now impacts the Public Service Gas Main,” said Pianese. He also said the cost became “prohibitive.”
While 88st Street will not have a left turn only lane, Vornado will still give land to the township so that Tonnelle may be widened to allow for additional traffic.
According to a resolution introduced on Jan. 28, the swatch of land closest to the mall will be “accepted” by the township, so that 91st may have a designated left turn lane. This resolution will have to be reintroduced.
An agreement that Vornado reached with a car wash, R&S Wash and Lube at the corner of 91st Street, will also allow a left-hand turn lane into the mall. Last month the township introduced ordinances to claim the area under eminent domain for the turn lane, but that is no longer necessary because of the private deal.
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