Wayne Towne Center

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The Wayne Towne Center is a regional shopping center located in Wayne, New Jersey, right next to Willowbrook Mall. As of 2008, the mall had a gross leasable area of 653,000 square feet (60,700 m2).[1] The center formerly operated as an indoor shopping mall from the time of its building as the West Belt Mall in the 1970s until 2008, when the last of the mall's secondary tenants closed. By June 2009 the center had only one anchor, JCPenney, following the closing of its other main anchor Fortunoff.

Existing in the shadow of Willowbrook Mall, Wayne Towne Center has had difficulty dating back to 1993, when the Neiman Marcus Last Call outlet headed for Pennsylvania.[2]

In January 2008, the Borders Books and Music, which replaced Last Call, was one of three North Jersey locations closed by the chain.[3] The portion of the mall that housed the Borders store was demolished in Fall 2008.

Later in 2008, the mall began undergoing what is referred to as "de-malling", which refers to a process where an enclosed shopping center slowly begins a transition to a more traditional shopping center.[4] In order to accomplish this, the remaining stores in the mall were closed one a time as were two of its anchor stores, Old Navy and Loehmann's. The TGI Friday's restaurant that was located in the mall was replaced by a freestanding location in the parking lot, and the remaining two anchors (JCPenney and Fortunoff) sealed off their mall entrances. The TGI Friday's in the frontmost parking lot was joined by Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze restaurants and a DSW Shoe Warehouse store, while a Chipotle Mexican Grill location was added in the JCPenney rear parking lot. Plans were to open a Dick's Sporting Goods store in the center, and the ownership went as far as to put a marker for the store on its sign post. These plans did not go through, however, as Dick's eventually backed out. Currently, JCPenney stands alone as an anchor store following Fortunoff's 2009 closure; the building has sat vacant since then and will require asbestos abatement before it either reopens or is demolished. The interior portions of the mall have been completely demolished.

In a deal closed on December 28, 2010, the mall was purchased by Vornado Realty Trust for $12.1 million from Wells Fargo, along with annual lease payments of $2.5 million for the land. A Vornado spokesman said that the company planned to revamp the property, as Vornado had previously done at The Outlets at Bergen Town Center in Paramus, New Jersey.[5]

Anchor

  • JCPenney (241,000 ft)

Former primary and secondary anchors

References

  1. ↑ Wayne Towne Center, International Council of Shopping Centers, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 4, 2008. Accessed March 31, 2011.
  2. ↑ Braue, Marilee Loboda. "LAST CALL IS PACKING ITS BAGSDISCOUNT RETAILER TO LEAVE WAYNE MALL", The Record (Bergen County), March 11, 1993. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  3. ↑ Verdon, Joan. "Borders to close Wayne, Paramus stores", The Record (Bergen County) January 10, 2008. Accessed March 12, 2008
  4. ↑ Verdon, Joan. "To Stay Competitive, Northern New Jersey Malls Remodel, Reposition.", The Record (Bergen County), February 11, 2004. Accessed August 16, 2007.
  5. ↑ Tangel, Andrew. "Vornado takes over Wayne Towne Center", The Record (Bergen County), February 9, 2011. Accessed March 31, 2011.

External links

New York
New Jersey
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
Italic text indicates unbuilt malls

Coordinates: 40°53′24″N 74°15′14″W / 40.8900°N 74.2540°W / 40.8900; -74.2540

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