Strip mall with Starbucks rising on Route 17 in Ridgewood
JANUARY 13, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015, 8:06 AM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A strip mall that will house a Starbucks café and seven other retail and restaurant tenants is taking shape on Route 17 in Ridgewood, one of the first ground-up, new construction, retail centers in recent memory.
The project is rising on a former vacant plot near the intersection of southbound Route 17 and Linwood Avenue. The owner of the land, Malvern Burroughs, has been trying to develop the property since the 1980s, and received approval for the 15,000-square-foot retail center in November 2013.
The structure is expected to be completed in late spring, with store openings in the fall, said Laurence Liebowitz of Landmark Real Estate, which is leasing the center.
Installation of the brick-and-limestone façade of the building is expected to begin Jan. 15, Liebowitz said.
While there have been numerous redevelopments of retail properties on Route 17 over the past decade, a brand-new retail center on formerly vacant land is uncommon. Burroughs had proposed other uses for the land, including townhouse apartments and an office building, but could not win approval for those projects from the Ridgewood Planning Board.
Great move. Ridgewood’s tax-geration rates along it’s short stretch of Rt 17 has not been maximized for eons. This strip-mall stuff is not pretty, but it serves its purpose and it has no appearance effects on the Village itself.
Just what is needed, asphalt the green area, clear cut the trees and put up another useless strip mall.
well #2 you should have bought the property and preserved it.
Spoken like a true unrealistic liberal. Hate business but want the money that business provides.
Yes, and Rt 17 is so pretty, isn’t it? Let’s preserve it’s natural beauty.
not a fan of strip malls or starbucks but , “natural beauty ” what “natural beauty ” is that?
Now let’s build the long-needed overpass at Racetrack Road to improve access to this stretch of Rt. 17 South.
Just what is wrong with having some green space?
Have you ever driven by that area ?? like I said , what “natural beauty ”
Preserve it really another property taken of the tax rolls and then complain that the taxes are to high.
Someone wants to preserve green space on Rt 17 ? You must be out of your friggin mind. If you are so hung up on preserving green space put your money where your mouth is and start buying up properties and preserving them. Where were you when Ken Smith came up for sale or the Town Garage or any number of other properties in Ridgewood. ?
PS: There is a commercial building for sale on Oak Street next to the auto body shop just north of Franklin Ave. Why not buy the building tear it down and turn the property into a nice peaceful park. Disregard the paint smell and noise coming from the auto body shop and the traffic noise from Franklin.
Your right James. Its a dam highway with concrete sound walls
Maybe the state should paint some trees , grass and maybe some deer on those walls to preserve the , “natural beauty ” for all those people driving by at 75 mph
It’s better than apartments with children and with no schools there that would require busing.
That Starbucks will be a gold mine. Nobody from Ridgewood will ever go there, but for people travelling from parts north, it will be the first one they see.
Ridgewood hung the taxpayers out to dry by spending 3 mil to acquire the Schedler property and that brings in ZERO and NOTHING has been done with it in years. At least the owners of this parcel are doing something that is positive for taxpayers and customers alike.
Your right XXX “It’s better than apartments with children and with no schools there that would require busing.” thats what would have happened at Schedler. Developers were knocking on the door to buy that property.
Let them build it so we can tax it.
#18 You are so right !!