WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A potential buyer for Woodbridge Center is negotiating the nitty-gritty details behind a multi-million dollar deal to acquire the Central New Jersey mall after its current owner, Brookfield Properties, tentatively accepted their purchase offer.
Meanwhile, long-vacant Lord & Taylor – part of the mall, but separately owned – also has a potential buyer under contract, officials said. The former two-story, 290,000-square-foot department store is likely to become a biomedical research-office facility with 200–300 employees.
A buyer reportedly made an acceptable offer for Lord & Taylor, but specifics are still sketchy. Lord & Taylor, closed in 2019, is owned by HBC-Woodbridge LLC, a limited liability company for Manhattan-based Hudson Bay Co/HBC Properties.
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Sale prices for the 85-square-acre Woodbridge Center mall, and for Lord & Taylor, remain under wraps until all the sales details get hammered out between buyers and sellers.
Woodbridge Mayor John E. McCormac broke news about the Woodbridge Center sale in his Feb.23rd State of the Township address. McCormac said he is unable to disclose any transaction details, including buyers’ identities or potential sale prices.
McCormac said “Woodbridge Center, like major malls across America, has struggled because of the Internet, and the ease of buying directly online. It has done an admirable job of diversifying outside basic retail (to) attract new tenants, but that has just not been enough.”
The mayor’s Administration has insisted Woodbridge Center’s new buyers agree to keep it as the town’s premier shopping, dining and entertainment venue.
“We made crystal clear, however, to (Woodbridge) Center’s realtors that we would not accept any housing or warehouse components, no matter who purchase(s) the property,” said McCormac, noting that he expects the ultimate sale to be a community benefit.
Speaking about the Lord & Taylor sale, McCormac explained the building is separately-owned, and said its owners are “closing in on a sale … which will spark new mall owners (an opportunity) for people working in high-end, on-site jobs to shop and dine (there) on a daily basis.”
McCormac emphasized he could not say anything more about either tentative sale deals.
ABOUT WOODBRIDGE CENTER
Opened in 1971, Woodbridge Center has nearly 1.7 million square-feet of retail space and parking for 8,600 vehicles, making it New Jersey’s third-largest shopping venue.
Owned since 1994 by Chicago-based Brookfield Properties, Woodbridge Center is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.(JLL), a commercial real estate firm, also headquartered in Chicago.
Brookfield also separately owns the former Sears in Woodbridge Center, an anchor store tenant that closed in April 2020, and its owns the mall’s current Boscov's Department Store.
Hard-hit by the pandemic and online retail sales, Brookfield faced foreclosure in mid-2023 after it defaulted on the property’s $225 million loan, according to published media reports.
At that time, Woodbridge Center’s value reportedly plummeted by 77% to $86 million from the $366 million as appraised in 2014. That apparently made the mall ripe for re-sale.
ABOUT LORD & TAYLOR
The Lord & Taylor department store, at 198 Woodbridge Center Dr., closed on Christmas Eve in 2019, amid a company-wide liquidation.
HBC Properties has marketed the two-story Lord & Taylor building since October 2023, offering its 290,000-square-feet of floor space for reuse as “an office, medical and retail opportunity … (in) a vibrant mixed-use shopping destination,” and “with the potential to command some $40 million (in) asset” and access to “food, entertainment and retail options” for future employees.
Sales executives for HBC Properties/Leasing did not respond to requests for comment.
Read More: Makeover in Store for Woodbridge’s Lord & Taylor