With an upscale fitness center poised to move into a new building and renovations to the storefronts under way, the Lawrence Shopping Center has begun to turn the corner.
In addition to the planned LA Fitness center, which will occupy a new building on the site of the former Huffman Koos furniture store, new businesses have begun to fill some of the empty storefronts at the shopping center on Brunswick Pike.
Petvalue has opened its doors, as well as New Jersey Camera and the Cafe du Pain bakery. Cooper Pest Control occupies a stand-alone building along the Princeton Pike driveway entrance.
The shopping center at 2495 Brunswick Pike is owned by Lawrence Shopping Center Associates LLC. It is anchored by Staples, the Burlington Coat Factory, Wells Fargo and Petvalue. The ACME Markets grocery store, which was also an anchor store, did not renew its lease and closed last month.
The former ACME storefront is one of approximately 18 vacant storefronts at the shopping center. There are 49 retail spaces at the Lawrence Shopping Center, according to a brochure and flyer posted on JJ Operating Inc.’s website. Lawrence Shopping Center Associates LLC is part of JJ Operating Inc.
The 393,430-square-foot shopping center was purchased by JJ Operating Inc. for $16.2 million in December 2016, according to the Lawrence Township Tax Assessor’s Office.
The prior owner, wbcmt 2007-c33 Brunswick Pike LLC, acquired the Lawrence Shopping Center at a Mercer County sheriff’s sale in 2013. Lawrence Center LLC, which owned the shopping center, defaulted on a $39.5 million loan, which led to the sheriff’s sale to satisfy the debt.
JJ Operating Inc., the new owner, is a family-owned real estate investment and management company based in New York City, according to its website, www.jjop.com.
In addition to the Lawrence Shopping Center, JJ Operating Inc. owns the Independence Plaza shopping center on South Broad Street in Hamilton Township. It also owns shopping centers in Avenel and Toms River, plus retail and office buildings in Newark, Manhattan, Brooklyn, N.Y., and The Bronx, N.Y.
The Lawrence Shopping Center, which opened in 1960, was the first major shopping center in Lawrence Township. It consisted of 150,000 square feet and 13 stores. The shopping center underwent expansions and renovations several times between 1966 and 1997.
Among the original stores at the Lawrence Shopping Center were W.T. Grant, which was a 5- and 10-cent store and a forerunner to today’s dollar stores; the Rexall drug store; Dunham’s department store; the Pantry Pride grocery store; and Lawrence Liquors, according to records on file at the Lawrence Township Tax Assessor’s Office.