An aerial view of the site that will house the Shoppes at Union Avenue, a planned 30-acre shopping center along Route 35 in Holmdel. — Courtesy: Ripco Real Estate
By Joshua Burd
The developers of a planned 30-acre shopping center in Monmouth County have hired Ripco Real Estate to oversee leasing for the project.
Zenith Realty Advisors, a development and private equity firm based in New York City, is developing the site in partnership with The Goldberg Group of White Plains, New York. The project, dubbed the Shoppes at Union Avenue, Holmdel, is located at the intersection of Route 35 and Union Avenue and is slated to be anchored by a supermarket.
“With the key acquisition of the corner parcel of this lot — the parcel at the intersection of Union Avenue and Route 35 — this site now offers potential retailers greater visibility and access,” Josh Goldberg, a principal of The Goldberg Group, said in a prepared statement. “We are thrilled to be working with Ripco. Their experience in national retail leasing and ground-up development work makes them uniquely qualified for this exciting project.”
Stephanie Harris, Ira Kerner and Curtis Nassau, who are based in Ripco’s Lyndhurst office, will lead the leasing efforts at the project.
“The Holmdel market presents itself with a unique mix of demographics that so many national retailers look for in this part of the state,” Harris said. “Being part of a new shopping center in the primary retail stretch of the Route 35 corridor and the close proximity to the Garden State Parkway makes this development a regional draw for a great many surrounding towns.”
The developers expect to deliver space to tenants as soon as the end of the third quarter of 2018, Ripco said. Kerner noted that the firm has “already received numerous calls from prospective tenants” and “received a lot of extremely positive attention and feedback” at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ recent RECon event in Las Vegas.
Nassau added: “The energy in this project is something that we don’t see very often.”
“The ongoing interest in this market is something that we have needed to address for many years,” Nassau said. “It not only confirmed our belief that access to a signal was critical to tenants, it also pointed out how many retailers still need stores in the prime Holmdel section of the (Route 35) corridor.”