Standing in front of the hall at the Chandelier Restaurant for the monthly meeting of the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce on June 23, Eric Alderman of Cameron Group LLC looked like a proud father, clicking the projector that displayed contemporary and historic photographs of his new baby: the Bayonne Crossing Mall.
First proposed in 2003 to 2004, Alderman came to the project in 2005 with the projection that the mall would be completed within 18 months. Five years later, and many reams of bureaucratic paperwork later, the mall will open its doors at the end of this year when Loews Home Improvement Center is complete.
“We have 65 percent of the site work done.” — Eric Alderman
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While Loews is on schedule to open its doors this year, as well as a number of smaller stores, Wal-Mart and N.Y. Sports Club will likely open in spring 2011, Alderman said.
The cost of construction is estimated at $82 million and is expected to generate more than 1,000 mostly union construction jobs and about 875 full time jobs once the mall is fully built out.
The idea for the mall began in about 2003 to 2004, Alderman said, and he credited ExxonMobil as being extremely cooperative for the environmental cleanup of the site.
The acreage was cobbled together through a number of land deals over the last three years, but faced some serious environmental cleanup hurdles, including removal of underground petroleum contaminants from the site, which once served as a storage area for the Standard Oil Company.
Bayonne Crossing will generate millions of dollars in personal income and tax revenue for Bayonne and the region.
Since breaking ground last November, the project has moved ahead quickly, as some of the slides showing an aerial view of the site where the pads for several of the future stores are located, as well as the water retention basin, have already been put in place. Alderman said that the project should move more quickly toward completion and that much of the mall site work will be done by the fall, allowing the stores to open for business.
“We have 65 percent of the site work done,” he said, detailing the nightmare of regulations and approvals the mall went through, not to mention the economy, which he said “tanked” and forced him to reconfigure his loan package.
He credited former Mayor Joseph Doria and current Mayor Mark Smith for helping to create an environment that made the mall possible, although he said New Jersey was a very difficult place to get projects done, something he hopes will change under Governor Chris Christie.
“I’ve talked with the Lt. Governor and she wants to do away with this boondoggle,” he said.
Since its inception, the project has gone through 67 different government agencies, 15 resolutions, six ordinances, 10 permits, and 17 other government approvals. The mall applied for the required license to develop five years ago, and was approved three years ago, but the project still hasn’t received the license yet.
Despite all this, the mall was the only retail facility of this kind to break ground in New Jersey in 2009, and one of only seven in the United States.
He said he was not upset by local concerns and during the long process did his best to try to explain what was transpiring.
He said 94 percent of the mall is already leased, but that the mall is being selective in choosing those to fill the remaining six percent, looking for high quality tenants.
He said businesses were having the same problems with financing as the mall went through, and though the mall would like to see men’s and women’s clothing stores, these tend to pay too little per square foot in leasing. He said the mall still has about 18,000 to 20,000 square feet of space available.
There have been some changes, he noted. T.G.I. Fridays will replace Chili’s, and the Starbucks originally planned became a victim of Starbucks eliminating new development. On the other hand, the mall will have a GNC and a Sonic restaurant.