Office complex bounces back

Venerable Route 9 location has new roster of tenants

Greater Media Newspapers, which publishes weekly newspapers in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, now calls the refurbished Juniper Plaza in Freehold Township home. Greater Media Newspapers, which publishes weekly newspapers in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, now calls the refurbished Juniper Plaza in Freehold Township home.

By dick metzgar

Staff Writer

uniper Plaza is alive and well again, according to tenants and one of its principal owners.

The sprawling 127,000-square-foot commercial complex on the northbound side of Route 9 at Three Brooks Road is now almost completely occupied with 16 tenants, including Greater Media Newspapers, publisher of the News Transcript, which moved into the facility in late January, according to Charles P. Kaempffer, president of Juniper Plaza Ltd., Colts Neck.


Longtime residents of the Freehold area may remember what Juniper Plaza looked like as a retail strip mall in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The portion of the building at the right housed a YMCA roller skating rink. Longtime residents of the Freehold area may remember what Juniper Plaza looked like as a retail strip mall in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The portion of the building at the right housed a YMCA roller skating rink.

The southernmost section of the complex is occupied by Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. The president of that firm, Eugene Landy, is one of the major partners in Juniper Plaza Ltd.

The huge one-story office complex and the large Juniper Farms residential development behind it are located on what was once a large potato farm, after which the two were named.

In the late 1960s, the farm was sold and converted into the residential development and the Route 9 commercial complex.

The original commercial structure was approved by the Freehold Township planning and zoning boards as a shopping center with its anchor business being a Mason’s department store, accompanied by a Waldbaum’s supermarket.


By the time AT&T had vacated Juniper Plaza in the late 1990s, the venerable Route 9 complex had lost most of its retail center appearance. By the time AT&T had vacated Juniper Plaza in the late 1990s, the venerable Route 9 complex had lost most of its retail center appearance.

Many old-time residents from the Freehold area recall shopping at Mason’s.

According to Kaempffer, an accountant and real estate developer who has been involved with many local civic and nonprofit organizations going back to the 1960s, Mason’s went bankrupt in the late 1970s, with Waldbaum’s pulling its operation out of the shopping center soon afterward.

Juniper Plaza Ltd., with Kaempffer as its principal partner, purchased the commercial building and property in June 1980, after Mason’s and Waldbaum’s were long gone.

"The building was in considerable disrepair by that time," Kaempffer said. "When we bought it, its occupants were a Chinese restaurant, a pizza shop and a roller skating rink leased to the Freehold Area YMCA."

Kaempffer was an officer with the YMCA when it was still on Throckmorton Street in Freehold Borough and handled negotiations for the purchase of the property on East Freehold Road, Freehold Township, where the YMCA moved its operations in 1970.

Before he became an owner of the Juniper Plaza building, Kaempffer arranged for the leasing of a portion of the structure by the YMCA as a roller skating rink in the late 1970s.

About the time that Kaempffer and his partners bought the building, AT&T, the communications giant, had been ordered to break up and was searching for space to locate some of its offices.

"AT&T was in need of temporary space at that time and originally rented 70,000 square feet of the building," Kaempffer. "However, AT&T then wanted an additional 50,000 square feet for its lab and research operations, and asked us to buy out the other leases so that it could occupy the entire operation."

Kaempffer said interior construction work for the AT&T facility began in September 1980 and was ready for occupancy by Dec. 31. The plans called for the installation of 600 individual offices and the AT&T operation had up to 600 employees at a time.

"Freehold Township officials were very supportive and helpful in helping us get the necessary approvals for the construction," Kaempffer said.

AT&T would occupy the building for 16 years until 1996, but Kaempffer said his was an uneasy relationship with the firm.

"AT&T always listed the building as a temporary rental, leasing the space for only one or two years at a time," Kaempffer said, adding that AT&T finally signed a three-year lease in 1994. "There’s an old saying in real estate that you either eat well or sleep well depending on the length of your leases. I ate well while AT&T was here, but I didn’t sleep well."

The bad news came in 1995 when AT&T officials informed Kaempffer they were pulling the entire operation out of the Route 9 complex.

"It was very discouraging," Kaempffer said. "That meant we had to start all over again from square one to find tenants for the complex."

It helped that township officials had rezoned the site for corporate mixed use (CMX), he said.

During 1997 and 1998, Juniper Plaza Ltd. received approvals from the zoning board for a complete renovation of the building, including replacing the open sidewalk and canopy with an enclosed canopy fronted by masonry and glass. The renovations included the removal of the 600 offices installed for AT&T.

Freehold Township Mayor David Segal said the township is satisfied with the renovated Juniper Plaza complex and the businesses it has attracted.

"We were concerned when we learned that we had an empty building on Route 9," Segal said. "We have worked with the developer to get proper uses for the building. We feel the building is now a nice addition to Route 9 without neon lights."