There is more positive movement to report regarding the Foxmoor Shopping Plaza.
Back on Oct. 22, the Robbinsville Township Council unanimously approved a resolution that directed the Planning Board to undertake a preliminary investigation of the property to see if it fits the criteria as an “Area in Need of Redevelopment.”
On Nov. 2, Colliers International NJ, LLC was appointed by the Monmouth County Court to become the controlling manager of the property after the former landlord, Foxmoor Associates, LLC/Pettinaro Companies, gave the plaza back to the bank after years of neglect and a small mountain of debt.
Colliers will serve as rent receiver from the handful of remaining tenants and make repairs such as defective roofs and crumbling sidewalks/curbs, but they are not in a position to infuse major capital into the property while it is in receivership. Colliers is the caretaker until a new owner steps forward with a comprehensive plan to rejuvenate the entire plaza, which includes more pad sites along route 33 and an anchor tenant in the former Marrazzo’s Thriftway, among other improvements.
“Having Colliers in place is a very good thing until there is a transition of ownership,’’ said Jaimee L. Katz Sussner, a partner with the firm of Herrick, Feinstein LLP. “Colliers is a top-notch entity and their first priority is to make every effort to clean up the property and respond to the maintenance needs of the tenants. Neither the lender, nor the receiver will allow this property to go into decay.”
Although the receivership may only last until the spring 2016, the traditional process still could take a few years.
We don’t have that kind of time, frankly.
The loyal, hard-working business owners in Foxmoor have suffered long enough, and it is time we acted in order to move the process along.
When you think about condemnation, it is a very powerful tool that is supposed to allow government to take over roads and things that really need to be addressed. What government shouldn’t be allowed to do is to tell people how to run their businesses or their homes. For instance, as an elected official if I didn’t like how you painted your house and all the other neighbors agreed with me, do we have a right to condemn your house?
Of course not.
The same thing holds true with your business. Even though I may not like how you are running your business that does not necessarily give government the right to come and take that business away from you, even if you are running it poorly and it is negatively affecting other people.
Condemnation is a slippery slope, and you have to be very careful in how it is used. With Foxmoor, we have a situation where the poor ownership is not only affecting the residents of Robbinsville, but it’s also seriously affecting the businesses there. We gave the former owners every opportunity to work with us to make the situation better, but they were not honest with us and they were not honest with their tenants. So, they were not only dishonest and doing a bad job, but they were harming their own tenants and other surrounding businesses as well. I feel we can use condemnation in this instance to speed up the inevitable since the current owner (the bank) understandably wants the money it is owed, but has no interest in owning the property.
I don’t think we have any other choice except to act.
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