Goodbye, Monmouth Mall As We Knew It: Demolition Underway

EATONTOWN, NJ — The demolition of Monmouth Mall has now started, as Kushner Companies tears down huge chunks of empty mall storefronts to make way for the 1,000 apartments it plans to build there, around a public center green.

As nearly everyone in Monmouth County knows by now, this is Kushner's dramatic overhaul of the mall, to rebuild it as Monmouth Square.

Kushner is tearing down the mall's entire second floor. Monmouth Square will consist of apartments built around a center green. See renderings above of how it will look. There is still no website available for Monmouth Square.

Kushner plans to build 1,000 one- and two-bedroom apartments, with an outdoor pool and fitness center. Rental prices have not been released, but online chatter reports $2,000 - $3,000 a month. Walking and biking trails will be built around the perimeter. The pool and gym are for residents only; the center green and walking trails would be open to the public. It would be an open-air mall similar to the way Monmouth Mall was in the 1960s.

What else Kushner envisions there:

• A Whole Foods is supposed to move into the space formerly occupied by Barnes & Noble, it was reported last May. But they are not scheduled to move in until 2026.
• The Barnes & Noble remains open; it just moved to a new area of the mall.
• The long-shuttered Lord & Taylor and JCPenney are being torn down as we speak.
• Kushner would love doctors' offices, restaurants and boutique shops to open at Monmouth Square.
• The AMC movie theater will remain open.
• So far, the Macy's and Boscov's there will remain open, but these are the few remaining Macy's/Boscov's in the state of New Jersey.

Once demolition is done, construction on the apartments will likely start later this year.

Here are more renderings and maps of Monmouth Square from the town of Eatontown: https://www.eatontownnj.com/56...

Monmouth Mall was a "ghost mall"

Kushner previously said they envision Monmouth Square as a type of new "town center" for Eatontown.

Last year, Kushner revealed Monmouth Mall had been operating at under 60 percent occupancy for the past several years. Kushner has always maintained that it either had to dramatically rebuild and rebrand Monmouth Mall — or it would have to shut the entire mall down, and either leave the site vacant or sell it.

Kushner tried this conversion several years before, pre-pandemic, but was stymied in part by resistance from some Eatontown residents. Then the pandemic hit, and the entire project was tabled.

Kushner Cos. was started by Charles Kushner, the father of former President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Kushners are also the developers of Pier Village in Long Branch. (https://kushner.com/projects/)

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