A once-bustling New Jersey strip mall, which has seen its decline in recent years, will soon be razed to make way for multifamily housing.
The former Raritan Mall had at least 15 storefronts, but mainly lost foot traffic once Stop & Shop, a chain grocery store and anchor tenant, closed in 2016—choosing not to renew its lease.
Now the borough has approved plans to replace the strip mall with a five-story building containing 276 rental units. At least 42 will be set aside for affordable housing, which meets the state law requiring New Jersey municipalities to add or rehab more than 146,000 affordable units by 2036.
Under that law, the Borough of Raritan (about an hour outside of New York City) is supposed to commit 99 affordable housing units over the next 10 years.
The new development will not solely be dedicated to housing. On the ground level, over 20,000 square feet will be set aside for retail.
The Raritan Planning Board voted 6-2 on March 25 to demolish the current building and move forward with redevelopment plans, but controversy has followed this project from the start.
The current development was built on a former landfill in the 1980s. There have been ongoing environmental and structural issues causing the property to fall into disrepair. Then, there’s the repeated flooding by the nearby Raritan River.
According to NJ.com, a 2022 redevelopment study done by the borough found the strip mall to be “abandoned and deteriorating, with vandalism, broken glass, mold, exposed nails, and significant flood damage. Sidewalks are cracked, and overgrown weeds have taken over parts of the parking lot.”
Construction concerns
One of the conditions for approving the development project is to create an evacuation plan for residents in case of flooding or natural disasters, according to MyCentralJersey.com.
The board also requires language in the lease that discloses the property’s location is in a flood zone.
The attorney for Raritan Mall LLC, Derek Orth, said he “understood the anxieties” from residents and board members but noted that the redevelopment “was a very public process.”
Orth added that “many, many layers of government approvals” remain before construction can start.
The attorney said that the landfill and flood risks were known to the Borough Council when the redevelopment plan was approved and the Superior Court had “vetted the site as appropriate for affordable housing,” according to the publication.
Community outcry
Many residents spoke out against the project over their concerns with placing a 70-foot-tall building on a former landfill and flood-prone area.
“I don’t think you understand what the potential for disaster is,” resident Chris Allen told the board, according to MyCentralJersey.com. “The river has kicked the living (expletive) out of this town several times.”
The outlet reports that Allen proceeded to ask board members whether they would move their own families into first‑floor apartments at the site.
“You all know it’s going to flood,” another resident said. Approval would put emergency responders “in harm’s way” during evacuations.