Menlo Park Mall
 The Center Court Of Menlo Park Mall on the first floor taken in 2017 | |
| Location | Edison, New Jersey, USA |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°32′18″N 74°22′43″W / 40.53833°N 74.37861°WCoordinates: 40°32′18″N 74°22′43″W / 40.53833°N 74.37861°W |
| Opening date | 1959 (renovated/enclosed in 1966-1967 and expanded in 1990-1991) |
| Management | Simon Property Group |
| Owner | Simon Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 175 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,260,000 sq ft (117,000 m2)[1] |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Public transit access |
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| Website | Menlo Park Mall |
Menlo Park Mall is a two-level super regional shopping mall, located on U.S. Route 1 and Parsonage Road in Edison, New Jersey, United States. The mall has a gross leasable area of 1,260,000 sq ft (117,000 m2).[1] Menlo Park Mall is currently owned and managed by Simon Property Group. Anchors include Macy's and Nordstrom, as well as Barnes & Noble and an AMC Dine-In Theater.
History
Menlo Park Shopping Center opened in September 1959, as an open-air complex. It was named after Thomas Edison's laboratory in the Menlo Park area of Edison, the site of which is about two miles (3 km) from the shopping venue. The structure was fully enclosed between June 1966 and December 1967. After the remodeling, it was renamed Menlo Park Mall.
The original center was anchored by Bamberger's, Montgomery Ward (opened May 1960), a small, dry goods only, JCPenney, a two-level Woolworth, as well as two grocery stores: ShopRite (later a Pathmark), and Pantry Pride, later a Big Buy.
Originally a one level structure, the fully enclosed mall (post-1967) had a lack of skylights, with only shaded windows along the sides of the ceiling. The low lighting made the interior quite dark, as was customary with interiors of malls at the time. The mall had unique flooring with patterns of orange, black, yellow and white throughout the mall.
The Montgomery Ward space was taken over by Alexander's in 1972. JCPenney moved to Woodbridge Center in 1981. Bamberger's was rebranded by Macy's in October 1986. When Alexander's went out of business, the mall was able to secure the 2nd Nordstrom in the state of New Jersey, but changes had to be made to prepare for the opening.
Most of the mall was closed from 1990–1991, when it underwent a significant renovation and expansion that converted it from a single-story structure into its current two-story form. In expanding and fitting into the space, the new Menlo Park Mall was built on an angle with the vertex occurring at center court. The renovated Menlo Park Mall was also changed to have galleria style skylights, domed fountain courts, marble flooring, dramatic lighting, sculptures and a large, skylit food court. Two parking decks were also added, as was a 12 Screen Cineplex Odeon movie theater which replaced the smaller Menlo Park Cinema on Route 1. Cineplex was later replaced by an AMC Dine-In Theater. Macy's was the only store to remain open during the primary expansion.
References
- 1 2 Menlo Park Mall, International Council of Shopping Centers, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 5, 2012. Accessed September 4, 2018.