Sept. 7, 2004
By Ken Tarbous
EAST BRUNSWICK: For years drivers have been passing the blighted Meyer's Shopping Center on Route 18 south, wondering what happened to the once-vibrant strip mall that held popular sidewalk sales and auto shows.
The last two tenants of the run-down plaza are preparing to leave and the future of the property, owned by the Branciforte family, is still in question.
Large gas tanks have been removed from the ground near the shuttered Mr. Good Lube on the site of the dilapidated strip mall.
The Oreck Floor Care Center has plans to move on or about Sept. 15 to the former site of The Bridal Center across the highway.
The Middlesex County Republican Organization has its headquarters in the plaza next to Oreck.
"We know that ultimately we'll be moving out, we're not certain when that's going to occur," Joe Leo, the Middlesex GOP's chairman, said. "We are expected to be vacating fairly soon. We're hoping that we will not have to move until the election."
Even the last Atlantic City bus has left, now picking up its daily passengers at the nearby American Harvest Gourmet Market.
A 10-year-old appraisal puts the property's assessed value at $2.913 million, according to township records. A portion of the 18.4-acre tract, approximately 3 acres, is protected wetlands and has water easements and encroachments and cannot be developed because of land-use restrictions.
The 2003 township tax bill, sent to "C. Branciforte et al" at a post office box in Milltown, was $184,152.
Robert Rafano, an attorney representing an unidentified member of the Branciforte family -- the four siblings, Gene, John, Carmella and Carl -- confirmed the property is for sale.
"Extensive negotiations are going on with a prospective purchaser, which we hope will be concluded shortly," Rafano, a New Brunswick-based lawyer, said last week. "We're at a very critical stage."
Luigi Branciforte, a local banker and businessman who owned the property, died in August 1997 at 79, leaving the site to his children.
The family has not responded to requests to tell their story of dealing with the business interests since their father's death.
Rusted tanks from a gas station once located on the site and mounds of dirt covered by tarp, evidence of the excavation, can be seen from the highway.
The pothole-filled front parking lot of the shopping center, also known as the Grand Plaza Shopping Center, is littered with papers, empty cigarette packs and other trash.
The rear lot is strewn with plastic garbage bags, empty soda bottles and other debris and has become a hidden parking spot for at least one tractor-trailer.
Faded signs -- some with exposed fluorescent lights -- for GMI Designs Custom Furniture, the East Brunswick Pub and others are remnants of better days at the one-time shopping mecca, which opened in 1955.
Meyer's Discount Store was the centerpiece, selling dolls, toys and bicycles to generations in the local community. The toy store, founded in New Brunswick in 1914, held its 60th anniversary celebration in 1974, an event featuring an antique-car show and a three-day outdoor sale by the 15 stores at the plaza.
Today, the tall highway sign, visible up and down Route 18, is barren except for the Oreck Floor Care Center enticement to sales and service for the vacuum-cleaner and air-purifier dealer.
Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey Inc. is the exclusive agent marketing the property for sale, the real-estate company confirmed. David Bernhout of C&W referred questions to the owners' representative for the sale, James F. Hyland, a judge and attorney based in East Brunswick.
Hyland, said to be a family friend of the owners, did not return numerous calls over the past year seeking comment.
Calls to New Brunswick-based attorney Carl Branciforte, one of the properties' owners, seeking comment were not returned.
The 57,600-square-foot one-story strip mall, fronted by the Mr. Good Lube building, has about 350 parking spaces, according to promotional materials from C&W's East Rutherford office. Rent on the Oreck space is $2,000 per month and the Mr. Good Lube location rent was in excess of $3,600 per month, according to C&W materials.
"That's probably the last great site available in East Brunswick," Adrian Kroll, president of Kroll Commercial Realty, said Wednesday. "The most desirable highway to be on in the Central Jersey area is Route 18."
The property could easily fetch $1 million per acre, even up to $1.4 million per acre, and would make sense for a retailer that needs to be on Route 18, he said.
"If somebody wants to be here, there's not a lot of choices." The tract, with 15.4 acres available for redevelopment, could sell for more than $20 million at that rate.
Kroll, whose East Brunswick firm has brokered more than $20 million in sales so far this year, said his office constantly gets calls about the Meyer's Shopping Center.
" 'I can't believe somebody has kept that site vacant that long.' This is what I hear daily," he said.
Wal-Mart and Wegmans Food Markets are conspicuously absent from East Brunswick, he added.
"I see a national company coming in, one of the big boxes. I think that building has to be razed, and a brand-new, multimillion-dollar structure has to come in," said Kroll, who has run his commercial brokerage specializing in retail, office and warehouse space for 13 years. "We have a tremendous amount of capable buyers out there who are ready, willing and able to act."
The access along Summerhill Road, the jughandle onto Arthur Road, and the huge Route 18 frontage makes it a wonderful site for a retailer, he said.
On Thursday, East Brunswick Mayor William Neary, a Democrat, pledged to immediately investigate any property-maintenance issues at the site.
The mayor said using eminent domain to take the property is unlikely.
"I've been very reluctant to do that," he said. "Our retail corridor is so strong it doesn't need the heavy hand of government."
The mayor said there are many opportunities for land owners in town, pointing to Lowe's, which has received Planning Board approval for a home improvement store at the East Brunswick Plaza, near Kohl's and Circuit City.
Neary said he feels confident a full proposal for the Meyer's site eventually will come before the Planning Board.
"The township itself understands that the property is valuable, and we figure the private owners will be able to make a deal, they haven't done it yet," he said. "Meyer's isn't being forgotten." Ed Cohen, head of economic development for the township, has been keeping a watchful eye on the valuable piece of land.
"The property has been up for sale for 7 years," he said Wednesday.
He has heard dozens of times that the tract had been sold, he said, adding that just because tanks have been removed doesn't mean a sale is imminent.
"It's 7 years since this administration has been here," he added. "The month that we took office 7 years ago is when Meyer's (toy store) closed, and that thing's been going downhill."
The Summerhill Marketplace, home of the A&P Food Market, is another Branciforte family property suffering from vacancies -- two stores in the 83,856-square-foot center are empty.
The Daisy Fair, a spring benefit for a township-run program for children and adults with disabilities, had to be postponed until July because of negotiations between the Branciforte family and a Pennsylvania-based firm, organizer Ronnie Wisniewski said in July. Wisniewski said then that the parties should be near a closing date.
