Business blooming at GSP
By JENNIFER KELLEY
Cherry Hill Sun
6/8/2007

Decades after tragic fire, business and residential communities flourishing at former racetrack

More than 50 years ago, the Garden State Park hosted some of the best thoroughbred racehorses in the country at its signature Jersey Derby, and emerged as a premier entertainment destination in the region. It also triggered the influx of entertainment-oriented development in the formerly rural southern New Jersey, and inspired the construction of the East Coast’s first indoor shopping center – the Cherry Hill Mall.

Now, decades after a tragic fire consumed the original grandstand and years after the public’s interest in the new racetrack on the site evaporated, history is in the process of repeating itself as one of the most talked about retail redevelopments in the nation takes shape.

In the last year, visitors to the Garden State Park site and motorists cruising by watched several skeletal rows of storefronts spring up and become the initial phase of the development – the Market Place at Garden State Park. It now offers 530,000 square feet of big-box, big-name national retailers and restaurants, including Wegman’s, Home Depot, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Best Buy, and restaurants, such as Panera Bread Co., Baja Fresh and Cheeburger Cheeburger. The stretch of shops and eateries aims to offer the feel of a downtown environment with a fascade of multi-story buildings, pointed towers, four-sided brick structures and patio areas with tables and umbrellas peppered throughout. The Market Place also serves as the “gateway” to the 230-acre project’s “lifestyle” center – the 285,000-square-foot Towne Place, which kicked off its own influx of national retailers and restaurants with the opening of The Cheesecake Factory last summer.

“So far, our tenants are very pleased with the business they’ve been getting,” said Joe Morris, vice president of commerce and marketing for Edgewood Properties, the company overseeing the leasing of the center. “The Cheesecake Factory, in particular, has just been knocking the ball out of the park,” he added.

Speaking of parks, another phase of the project – which will commence in about two years, once major construction wraps up – is an eight-acre park, complete with ball fields, an amphitheater and walking paths, Morris said.

But right now he’s just focusing on getting new tenants in as fast as he can. Proposed retail for the Towne Center includes upscale fashion retailers Anthopologie, Bandolino, BCBG, Hugo Boss and Kenneth Cole, in addition to casual, sporty clothing suppliers, such as Coldwater Creek, on the Market Place side.

Morris noted that Edgewood is in the midst of lengthy discussions with Eddie Bauer as well.

And shoppers flocking to the Garden State Park in search of everything from appliances to peep-toe pumps will have no fear of going hungry, as Morris promises that many new restaurants are on their way. He noted that Brio Tuscan Grill – an upscale Italian restaurant – is expected to open in July; PF Chang’s is set to open a casual-concept Chinese food café, called Pey Wei, by the end of the summer; Houlihan’s will likely be ready to open its doors to happy-hour revelers by next May; McCormick & Schmick’s – a high-end seafood restaurant – is also slated for a spot on the site and will open with its most top-of-the-line concept restaurant, called Jake’s Steakhouse, right next door.

“We’re looking to bring in many more. There’s currently a push to get sushi places,” he added. “We are far from finished filling in the roster of places to eat.”

The retail aspect of the project is about 60 percent complete, Morris said. And some of the current tenants are beginning to bring their own ambience to the specially designed “lifestyle” center. For instance, Panero Bread Co. is proposing to offer a live jazz band in the Market Place’s center square three nights a week, he noted.

Sound like something you’d like to have in your backyard? Well soon, many residents set to live in the development’s residential phases will be able to walk along connecting footpaths or take San Francisco-styled trolleys to the shopping center. Approximately 1,700 new town homes, condominiums, luxury rental homes and active-adult residences are in the works, with the 55-and-older condominium community – deemed The Plaza Grande – set to usher in its first residents by the end of the summer.

The New Jersey-Pennsylvania division of D.R. Horton homebuilders came under fire earlier this year when tenants slated to move in 2006 found themselves stuck in a holding pattern while the company worked with Cherry Hill to get several of its buildings up to code.

But, with a new project manager on site and help from township officials, “we’ve made tremendous progress in the last couple of months,” said Jay Goldberg, vice president of sales and marketing.

D.R. Horton is wrapping up construction on four of its proposed 25 buildings. When complete, The Plaza Grande will feature 608 homes for the 55-and-older population.

About 40 homes have been sold so far, he said, noting that interest in purchasing the luxury condos has been high. The buildings will feature underground parking garages, luxuriously designed lobbies and hallways and a landscaped exterior that will funnel into the Garden State Park’s upcoming, 8-acre open-space project.

“These are not your typical condos,” Goldberg added. “For the people who live here, it’ll be like coming home to a rich country club.”

Adding to that experience will be The Plaza Grande’s clubhouse, which, Goldberg noted, will be as aesthetically pleasing as the condo units. It will feature a giant pool, billiard and card rooms and a fitness center, among other amenities.

“We’re going with the theme of this entire redevelopment project and building a ‘lifestyle’ into our site,” Goldberg told The Sun. “People in their ‘50s and ‘60s are more active these days than ever before, and we want to offer them a way to live close to their children or grandkids without all the maintenance that comes with keeping up a single-family home. These 55-and-over communities have become increasingly popular in this area as baby boomers retire because they offer everything an adult with an active lifestyle and social life would want, without any hassle.”

Goldberg, along with several other D.R. Horton officials, grew up near the Garden State Park, he said. “We understand the market and have spent time at the Garden State Park throughout our lives. We knew this would be an important community to build here.

“It’s amazing how this whole project – from the townhomes on both ends to the retail and restaurants – is beginning to crystallize into what everyone knew it would become,” he added.

Morris concurred.

“Our intent is to design a complete lifestyle center and give Cherry Hill its own downtown, and that’s exactly what’s happening,” he said. “We’re building the town center so that people living at the Garden State Park won’t have to get in their car to eat, shop, relax outside or be entertained. But it’s not just for the people who are buying properties there; it’s for the whole area. We plan to eventually meet every need under the sun – from home furnishings to electronics to ice cream – and bring a first-class lifestyle destination to the region.”