Bridgewater Commons
 Southern side of Bridgewater Commons | |
 | |
| Location | Bridgewater, New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°35′09″N 74°37′10″W / 40.58583°N 74.61944°W |
| Address | 400 Commons Way |
| Opening date | February 26, 1988 |
| Developer | The Hahn Company |
| Management | Trademark Property Company |
| Owner | JPMorgan Asset Management |
| No. of stores and services | 170[1] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 (2 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 970,000 sq ft (90,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 3 (2 in Bloomingdale's) |
| Parking | Parking lot and 3-story parking garage east of AMC |
| Public transit access |   NJ Transit bus: 65, 114 |
| Website | bridgewatercommons |
Bridgewater Commons is a fully enclosed shopping mall located in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. The mall is located at the intersection of Route 22 and Route 202/206 and borders I-287. The mall opened on February 26, 1988 and has a gross leasable area of 900,000 sq ft (84,000 m2).[2][3]
The mall was expanded in 2005 and 2006 to include a lifestyle center called "The Village at Bridgewater Commons". It is anchored by Maggiano's Little Italy. The Village contains 15 other stores and restaurants. The mall is currently filled with 158 stores and has a total of 170 stores.
As of 2022, the mall currently features Bloomingdale's and Macy's. The mall also includes retailers Abercrombie & Fitch, Adore Me, Janie & Jack, Free People, and Fabletics. The mall also features an AMC Dine-In Theatre.
History
In the 1960s, a township redevelopment agency combined various plots of land in Bridgewater, and then it declared the entire area blighted so that the land could be sold to one developer.[4] Bridgewater township signed a contract with The Hahn Company, a California-based mall-developer, in 1985.[4] The Prudential's real estate division joined the development project later.[4][5]
In 1986, R.H.Macy Co announced they would open a Macy's store in the shopping center, instead of the company's Bamberger's banner, as originally planned. The company was in the process of retiring the Bamberger's brand and converting its Bamberger's stores to its Macy's banner. [6][7]
Bridgewater Commons opened in February 1988 with anchor stores Macy's, Hahnes and Stern's. On June 18, 1988, a Disney Store opened, which was the first Disney Store located outside of California.[8] On October 18, 1989, Hahnes converted to Lord & Taylor.[9] In 2001, Macy's announced that two Stern's stores will close in the same year, and reopen as Bloomingdale's stores in 2002. Bridgewater was one of them. The other store that was affected was the Wayne location, located at the Willowbrook Mall. The mall complex pursued a major expansion in 1991 to add two eight-story office buildings to the complex, which would include 578,000 sq ft (53,700 m2). of office space and a 300-room hotel. The effort was initiated as part of a longstanding urban renewal project.[10] By 2000, with a 347-room Bridgewater Marriott Hotel already under the construction, the mall's developers pushed ahead to develop the office towers planned for the complex.[11] The two towers later opened, occupied mostly by Brother Industries and Sanofi-Aventis.
Since opening, mall management and Somerset Medical Center have sponsored a HealthHike mall walking program to give walkers an indoors, secured, and climate-controlled environment in which to walk. Anyone can obtain a name tag to enter the mall starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. The program also includes a monthly meeting at 8:30 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month from October through June to discuss health-related topics. Since opening, the mall has also featured an annual Christmas display and kids photo opportunity with Santa Claus in addition to a photo opportunity with the Easter Bunny around Easter time.[12][13]
In 1993, Bridgewater Commons became one of the first malls in the state to ban smoking, joining 300 of 1800 malls nationwide that prohibited smoking on mall grounds.[14]
In 2003, McCormick & Schmick's opened.[15]
The Village at Bridgewater Commons officially opened on Saturday, September 23, 2006.[16]
As of November 2008, the Food Court has reopened after its extensive renovation.[17] Some of the restaurants within have reopened as well.
On January 31, 2020, Marriott opened another hotel about 3/4 of a mile away from the mall, called, AC Hotels by Marriott, along with a rooftop restaurant, called The Bradford, which opened a month after the hotel opened. During the construction of the hotel, a brand-new Zinburger opened its 17th location, but later closed all of their restaurants as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has since been replaced with Tommy's Tavern + Tap.[18][19][20]
On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing.[21]
References
- ^ "Bridgewater Commons". Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
- ^ "International Council of Shopping Centers: Bridgewater Commons". October 3, 2006. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ "Rockaway Townsquare". Simon Property Group, Inc. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- ^ a b c Rundquist, Jeanette (July 7, 1991). "Bridgewater Office Complex Stalled as Economy Hinders Developers". The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey).
- ^ Ali, Sam; Berkin, George (May 5, 1997). "Robert Beck of Prudential dies at 71: Rose from salesman to company CEO]". The Star-Ledger. (Newark, New Jersey). p. 1.
- ^ Verdon, Joan. "Bamberger's stores are gone but impact lives on". North Jersey Media Group. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
- ^ Lisicky, Michael J. (November 6, 2017). Abraham and Straus: It's Worth a Trip from Anywhere. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6367-7. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
- ^ "New Jersey Disney to Open Store in Somerset", The Record, June 16, 1988. p. C3.
- ^ Rundquist, Jeanette (October 19, 1989). "Lord & Taylor Opens New Store at the Bridgewater Commons". The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey).
- ^ "Hoping to Defy the Odds in Bridgewater; Developers Bet On Office Center, Citing Location", The New York Times, February 17, 1991. p. R8
- ^ Garbarine, Rachelle (May 21, 2000). "In the Region/ New Jersey; Bridgewater Commons Is Entering the Home Stretch Offices and hotel will complete the master plan for the mall". The New York Times. pp. RE9. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ Richardson, Kara. "Central Jersey retailers hoping for busy Black Friday". Gannett. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ Loyer, Susan. "Local walkers get healthy at Bridgewater mall". Gannett. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ "2 Big Malls Ban Smoking". The New York Times. October 8, 1993. pp. B6. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2004. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "2006-09-23.pdf" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 17, 2016.
- ^ Heyman, Lois. "Bridgewater Commons food court reopen for business". Gannett. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ^ "Bridgewater's Zinburger Closes, New Tavern To Replace It". Bridgewater, NJ Patch. September 15, 2020. Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ Deak, Mike. "AC Hotel opens in Bridgewater with rooftop bar forthcoming". MyCentralJersey.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ Deak, Mike. "Bridgewater: Tommy's Tavern + Tap replacing Zinburger across from Commons mall". MyCentralJersey.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ Bomey, Nathan. "Lord & Taylor going out of business: Store closings, liquidation sales begin". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2021.