legal delays

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, the 435,000-sf shopping complex finally passed muster in late 2007, and a subsequent groundbreaking kicked off the project's current construction. "We are well under way, and are on schedule for a November opening," confirms Michele Rothstein, SVP of the Roseland, NJ-based Chelsea, a division of Simon Property Group. As reported in the Simon 2007 annual report, the estimated gross cost of the project is $157 million.

The shopping center is rising on 60 acres at Route 66 East and Essex Road along this community's border with Neptune Twp., and will have a total of 120 stores with a fashion-oriented, upscale tenant mix. That tenant mix will also include a food court.

The single-level, village-style center will be Chelsea's third in New Jersey bearing the company's Premium Outlet brand, joining properties Flemington and Jackson. The site is also directly off an exit of the Garden State Parkway.

Premium Outlets' construction

"During construction, the development is creating more than 300 construction jobs," Rothstein says. "Upon opening, the center will provide between 800 and 1,000 permanent and part-time jobs. It is projected to generate more than $170 million annually in retail sales, and annual real estate property tax revenues of more than $1.2 million."