Plans reveal new, bigger ShopRite in Freehold Township after years of waiting
David P. Willis, Asbury Park Press
Updated 4 min read
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - A long-awaited large ShopRite supermarket is the centerpiece of a proposed plan to replace an older and smaller ShopRite and redevelop South Freehold Shopping Center, a plaza at the intersection of Routes 9 and 79.
The proposed new World Class ShopRite is detailed as part of a redevelopment plan by the shopping center's owner, Saker Enterprises. Once completed, the new supermarket, including a new ShopRite Liquor Warehouse next door, will replace the current ShopRite, which will remain open during construction.
Township officials have had their eyes on the dilapidated shopping center for nearly a decade, tagging it as an area in need of redevelopment in 2013.
The redevelopment plan comes as part of a proposed ordinance which will set the zoning regulations for future changes there. The Township Committee is set to introduce that ordinance on July 11, township Administrator Peter Valesi told What's Going There.
ShopRite of Freehold on June 13, 2023. It would be replaced with a larger ShopRite supermarket as part of a proposed redevelopment plan for South Freehold Shopping Center.
See full maps and illustrations of the new shopping center layout at the bottom of this story.
South Freehold Shopping Center and the Freehold Mall shopping center next door "have been targets of the Township Committee to have them upgraded to modern standards for at least the last five years," Valesi said. "This is the important, very important, last piece of that puzzle."
The Planning Board will review the proposed ordinance for the South Freehold Shopping Center plan to make sure it complies with the township's overall land use plan.
Once that's done, the Township Committee will vote on whether to approve it. Afterward, Saker Enterprises will have to make a formal application with the Planning Board to build the new store and make other changes at South Freehold Shopping Center.
The redevelopment will mean big changes for the shopping center, which is now mostly vacant. Currently, it consists of a L-shaped strip shopping center, which is 72,729 square feet. The existing ShopRite is next door, a 59,182-square-foot store built in 1963.
In their place is proposed a 108,878-square-foot building: an 88,345-square-foot ShopRite and 20,531-square-foot liquor store, with the rear of the building adjacent to Route 33, according to concept plan documents filed with the township.
Construction would occur in phases.
Dollar Tree is one of the few remaining stores at the ShopRite shopping center between Routes 9 and 79 in Freehold Township. Aug. 23, 2022.
It includes the demolition of a portion of the L-shaped center, which is next to ShopRite and contains vacant stores and Dollar Tree, for parking spaces for supermarket customers to use during construction. The rest of the large shopping center building, which now includes the liquor store and other existing tenants, will remain and be renovated.
Next, Saker Enterprises will build the new ShopRite in a location that currently includes the existing parking lot and the earlier demolished retail buildings next to Route 33.
After the new store is completed, workers will demolish much of the old ShopRite, and renovate a portion for a new 12,788-square-foot retail building.
Empty storefronts in the ShopRite shopping center between Routes 9 and 79 in Freehold Township. Aug. 23, 2022
A representative of Saker Enterprises declined to comment on the plan.
Richard Saker, president and chief executive officer of Saker ShopRites, has redeveloped other properties in Monmouth County to replace older stores with larger supermarkets.
For instance, Saker purchased the former Sears property, which included a closed Sears store and a vacant Sears Auto Center, on Route 35 in Middletown.
David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for 25 years. He writes APP.com's What's Going There and Press on Your Side columns and can be reached at dwillis@gannettnj.com. Join his What's Going There page on Facebook for updates.
