LAKEWOOD, NJ, FEBRUARY 21, 2006 - Developer Jack Morris announced plans Tuesday (Feb. 21) for a connector road linking a new shopping center on Route 70 in Brick Township with Shorrock Street in Lakewood.
Morris, president and chief executive officer of Edgewood properties, spoke before a monthly meeting of about 100 residents of Leisure Time East on Shorrick Street, an active adult community.
The residents responded favorably to the proposal, which will allow the 2,300 residents of Leisure Time East as well as thousands of other residents of four other active adult communities in the area to get to the new shopping center without having to travel on busy Route 70, Rick Fichter, manager of Leisure Time East, said.
The connector road, which is expected to cost about $1.5 million, will be paid for by Morris, the developer of the 288,245-square-foot shopping center. The shopping center will include a Costco, a Christmas Tree Shops, a Dick's Sporting Goods and an Office Depot, Morris said.
The center is being developed on 29 commercially zoned acres adjacent to the Lakewood-Brick border
Morris said he had been asked by the municipality and by the state Department of Transportation to build the connector road.
"I said that anything that would better the traffic situation is something I would absolutely consider," he said. "I think this is the right thing to do as a responsible developer. It will be a great added benefit to the community."
The shopping center will also include a bank and several restaurants, including a Houlihan's and a Panera Bread, he said.
Site work has already begun, with the shopping center expected to open for the Christmas shopping season, he said.
"That's great," Leisure Village East resident Joan Pillera, a retired Lakewood school teacher, who has lived there three and one-half years, said of the proposed connector road. She said many of the community's elderly residents are afraid of driving on Route 70, especially during rush hours when traffic is particularly heavy.
The highway is an access road for commuters using the Garden State Parkway, whose entrance is located less than one-half mile from the new shopping center.
The connector road will also afford residents of Leisure Village and the other active adult communities the opportunity to walk to the new shopping center, Pillera said.
The entrance to the connector road will be opposite the Shorrock Street entrance to the neighboring Town & Country Shopping Center, where a Home Depot store is now located, Morris said. A traffic signal already exists at that intersection.
One concern of Leisure Time residents was that trucks would use the connector road to access the shopping center, but Morris said that a rubber bar that will be suspended above the road will prevent trucks from using the connector road, forcing them to use the two entrances on Route 70 instead.
"Putting a sign up doesn't prevent truck traffic," he said.
Though the new shopping center is expected to attract additional traffic to the already-congested area, Morris said two traffic studies have concluded that planned traffic improvements, including widening lanes and adding jug handles, will alleviate traffic congestion rather than adding to it.
"We look forward to providing additional shopping and dining alternatives in the area," said Joe Morris, vice president of leasing for Edgewood Properties. "This center will be a signature development attracting world-class national retailers."
