With construction underway, the rest of Plainsboro’s Village Center is beginning to attract retail interest.##M:[more]## “Business is certainly brisk,” says Bob Sheehan, Township Administrator. “We knew that once the buildings started to come out of the ground it would enhance our ability to attract tenants.”
When it is ultimately completed — hopefully sometime in late 2006 — the Village Center will offer residents and visitors a mixed use town center environment that combines office space, retail, cultural areas and living. The new library will stand as the centerpiece of the Village Center.
According to Danielle Brunelli, of R.J. Brunelli Company (located in Old Bridge), retailers and businesses are very interested in setting up shop at the Village Center. She is handling the retail leasing for both Plainsboro’s Village Center as well as a similar concept in Washington Township. “I get calls of inquiry every single day,” she says. “But we are being very selective. We are trying to lease to businesses that already have a track record of success.”
According to Brunelli, businesses that are to face Shalks Crossing Road will move in this September with an expected open-for-business date later in the fall. Because many leases are not yet signed, she declined to give the names of many of the businesses.
Businesses facing Shalks Crossing Road include an Italian bistro, a cosmetics boutique, a soup and sandwich restaurant, and a cafe featuring cakes and cookies. “There is also going to be another boutique at the corner of what will be Market Street,” she says. “It is an existing store that will be relocating from Nassau Street (in Princeton).”
Also listed in the line-up of future Village Center merchants are a cell phone store, an Ebay concept store, a linens and bedding store, and a Constitution Bank — with drive-up services — that has already signed a lease. “A dentist in the area will also be opening up a second unit at the Village Center that will be focusing on cosmetic dentistry,” says Brunelli.
Businesses that will be facing Market Street include an upscale Asian fusion restaurant, a Christian book store, and a hair cutting business especially for children. Brunelli says that she also hopes to include a children’s apparel store and a jewelry store.
On the village green near where the library will be constructed, Brunelli says there will likely be a 24,”000 square foot salon/spa business, a home decor store, as well as an optical store. There will also be a small Indian restaurant, “Calcutta Kati Rolls.
“We really are assembling a nice mix of tenants that will offer residents and the 17,”000 people who work here in Plainsboro an alternative,” says Brunelli. “It is going to be exciting.”
Last year Plainsboro Township put two of its three available liquor licenses up for public auction, with both going to the Gale Company for establishments at Plainsboro’s Forrestal Village. The expectation had been that at least one of the licenses would have been intended for a Village Center eating establishment.
While the sales netted the township over $1 million in additional revenue, the Village Center is still without a potential alcohol-based restaurant. Brunelli says that recent negotiations with potential restaurant owner fell through, although she is hopeful that there will ultimately be a liquor-based restaurant in the center. The license would need to be put up for public auction.
