The center would rise on a vacant 23-acre site formerly used by Pacific Vegetable Oil International. The company filed for bankruptcy a decade ago, shut down its operations shortly thereafter, and the site has been unused since. Drew Chemical utilized the site for many years prior to PVO's occupancy.

Complicating matters for Boonton Investors is the fact that the tract is heavily polluted and needs remediation. Any development can't proceed until the both the Department of Environmental Protection, both state and federal, sign off on it and proper permits are in place. Existing buildings on the site would be demolished to make way for the new shopping complex, under the developer's plan

What Boonton Investors has in mind, according to project manager Jim Cavanaugh, is just under 190,000 sf of retailing, including a bank and a restaurant. The complex would be anchored by a "big box" retailer to be named. Home Depot was an early candidate, but negotiations with the home improvement chain broke off some time ago. Now, Boonton Investors is said to be deep into negotiations with Wal-Mart to fill the slot. According to a published report, Wal-Mart is said to be a "good possibility" for the complex.