Bright future planned for Galloway mall

Real Estate Weekly, May 26, 2004

Holualoa Arizona, Inc. has purchased the 101,000 s/f Galloway Shopping Center on Route 9 in Galloway, N.J. and announced that it plans to sign a supermarket as an anchor tenant and add as much as 30,000 s/f to the development.

The Galloway center, which has fallen into disrepair, will be updated and upgraded as Holualoa prepares the development for the expected continued growth of Atlantic county's shore communities. Historic Smithville, just a mile north of Galloway, will serve as the architectural inspiration for the existing buildings and a cluster of new structures around a major water feature. A pharmacy location is being offered and the supermarket location currently has 38,000 s/f available and can be expanded as part of an as-of-right agreement with local township officials.

"In addition to the obvious advantages of being on the north commutation route from Atlantic City, we also love the fact that our 16 stores count seniors from the local active-adult developments as core customers," said Michael Perlman, the Holualoa vice president who over-sees its New Jersey properties. "Active adults are consistently loyal customers who use the local shopping center as their downtown. In particular the Galloway area is ripe for the kind of lifestyle experience we are going to create, adding new dining and shopping to a vital existing tenant base.

Holualoa is an Arizona real estate investor with New Jersey roots that has acquired four shopping centers in the last 14 months along with its Kenilworth-based partner Kay Realty. In addition to the Galloway property, the company is in talks to acquire other shopping centers and retail locations, some along its favored Garden State Parkway corridor.

"We see an enormous opportunity to establish a substantial portfolio in New Jersey, especially as we anticipate Ocean and Atlantic counties to continue to attract seniors and other residents in a historically robust population involved in everything from technology to farming," said Bill Klein, of Kay Realty. "New Jersey's mid-section is a cross-section of society that represents a very reliable customer base for the stores that will become our tenants. As land resources deplete, these areas will fill in.."