Seaview Square Mall
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Seaview Square Mall is a defunct indoor shopping mall located in Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, that has been repurposed as a power center.[1]
The 856,000 square foot mall[2], located at the intersection of Route 35 and Route 66, was originally constructed in 1977 as an indoor mall.[3][1] The site was originally a landfill from 1941 to 1975 and was considered a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) until 1991.[4] In its two-decade life as an indoor mall, it faced stiff competition from the more upscale Monmouth Mall, located five miles further north on Route 35.[1] One of its four anchors never opened,[1] and several smaller stores, and Stern's and Steinbach's, two of its anchors, were victims of the then-indoor mall's state of decline into a dead mall.[5]
Most of the mall was demolished in 2001, with the exception of its remaining two anchors, Value City and Sears, that have been replaced by several other freestanding "big-box stores" including Target, Costco, and an abandoned Lowe's.[5] There are also other smaller stores on the property.
Seaview Square made national news in December 1992 after the mall Santa Claus allegedly called an African-American boy a monkey. After the Santa asked 10 year-old Devon Jackson what he wanted for Christmas, he said "Well, maybe if I give you a coloring book to look at and color, you may find something in there you like. I know how you can get a monkey if you want to see a monkey. Did you ever see a monkey? You go look in a mirror and you'll see a monkey." The family complained and hired a lawyer after Jackson's grandmother saw the Santa working there a few days later. The mall management stated the Santa made comments about monkeys to children of every race.[6]
[edit] Trivia
- Kevin Smith wanted to film the 1994 movie Mallrats in Seaview Square, but filmed it in Minnesota instead due to lower production costs.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d In the Region/New Jersey; Foundering Ocean Township Mall Is Bulking Up, The New York Times, July 23, 2000
- ^ International Council of Shopping Centers: Seaview Square Mall, accessed December 9, 2006
- ^ Upscale development fills commercial corridor, Asbury Park Press, October 20, 2005
- ^ Cracks in floor at Lowe's spur shutdown for repairs, Asbury Park Press, February 28, 2004
- ^ a b For a while, plenty of parking at mall, Asbury Park Press, January 18, 2001
- ^ Santa Tells Black Boy to Look in Mirror to 'See a Monkey', St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 25, 1992
- ^ New Jersey and "Mallrats" -- perfect together?, The Record (Bergen County), October 15, 1995
