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New Supermarket Coming to Toms River
As part of an initiative to revitalize the Fischer Boulevard retail area and fill empty spaces with new stores, a supermarket is returning to Bellcrest Plaza, which is now under new management.
According to Aaron Kotler, chairman of
Horizon Equities, a real estate company with offices in Lakewood, Tampa, Florida, and Norfolk, Virginia, Grocery Outlet has signed a lease for a 17,000-square-foot location.
Additionally, a 15,000 square foot lease was just secured by
Supreme Courts, a pickleball operator, according to Kotler.
They are occupying the Bellcrest location that Super Foodtown once inhabited before closing its doors in 2010, according to Kotler. Additionally, Valhallan Esports Training has leased a 1,800-square-foot space.
According to Shane Wierks, a commercial real estate broker with Springfield, Missouri-based Jeffery Realty, who represented Bellcrest in the lease deals, the new tenants protect and improve the shopping center's longevity. "It's a shopping center that caters to all the neighborhood's essentials."
As part of the Ocean County Middle Market Portfolio, which comprised 310,023 square feet of office and retail property in Toms River, Brick, and Berkeley, Bellcrest Plaza was acquired by Horizon Equities in 2023.
What's Going There was informed by Kotler, "We decided to invest heavily in the plaza." This "major refresh" for the facility includes new lighting, new building renovations, new signage, including a new pylon sign, and a repaved parking lot.
Kotler stated, "It needed it." "It was tired and we don't want it tired."
Dollar Tree, Planet Fitness, RWJ Barnabas Health, and Jag One Physical Therapy are some of Bellcrest Plaza's main tenants. It features six eateries, including Joe's Bagels, Tardi's Ristorante Italiano, and a recently remodeled Dairy Queen.
According to Kotler, his family has spent more than 80 years residing in Ocean County. "It's an incredible place to live," he stated. "It is very, very familiar territory to us," he stated. "It's vibrant and it's alive."
43,000 square feet of the 105,000 square foot Bellcrest Plaza were unoccupied when it was bought by Horizon Equities, according to Kotler. "We called that absurd. There's no justification for it to be 41% empty," he declared. "Let's restore some of the energy."
Kotler acknowledged Wierks' efforts and claimed that luring in a pickleball operator, a discount grocery store, and an e-sports company helped. "It's working."
He said that the current vacancy rate is down to 11% and that there are a few smaller units and a 6,000-square-foot location available.
"Leasing interest is very high, with particular interest from various parties in the 6,000-square-foot suite," said Kotler. "Toms River is a great town in which to do business, with an exceptionally well-run township and loyal local population," he stated.
Grocery Outlet, an extreme discounter, has more than 400 stores across the country, including a store on Route 35 in Hazlet. It adds another grocery option for the area with ShopRite of Fischer Bay nearby.
Grocery Outlet sells name brand and private label items at deep discounts by buying discontinued or excess inventory. Product manufacturers might have changed packaging, made too much of a product, changed its formula or discontinued a particular variety.
It also sells grocery basics, including milk, eggs, produce and meat, which are bought from conventional suppliers and priced at or below other stores in town, the company said on its website.
