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Menlo Park Mall

Entrance to Menlo Park Mall
Location	Edison, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°32′18″N 74°22′43″W / 40.53833°N 74.37861°W / 40.53833; -74.37861
Address	55 Parsonage Road
Opening date	September 1959 (renovated/enclosed in 1966-1967 and expanded in 1990-1991 and renovated in 2015)
Developer	Lomen Construction
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group
Architect	RTKL Associates Inc. (Dallas Texas)
No. of stores and services	156
No. of anchor tenants	2
Total retail floor area	1,332,132 sq ft (123,759.1 m)
No. of floors	2 (3 in Macy's & Nordstrom)
Public transit access	NJ Transit bus: 810
Website	simon.com/mall/menlo-park-mall

Menlo Park Mall is a two-level super regional shopping mall, located on U.S. Route 1 and Parsonage Road in Edison, New Jersey. The mall has a gross leasable area of 1,332,132 sq ft (123,759.1 m) and is owned and managed by Simon Property Group.

History

The Menlo Park Shopping Center opened in September 1959, as an open-air complex. It was developed and constructed by Abraham Sommer and Sigmund Sommer, developers from Iselin, New Jersey. It was named after the Menlo Park area of Edison, also the site of Thomas Edison's former laboratory location. The structure was fully enclosed between June 1966 and December 1967. After the remodeling, it was renamed Menlo Park Mall, a prominent retail hub in Edison, New Jersey, is part of Simon Property Group's extensive portfolio of over 200 properties in the United States, highlighting its significance within the regional shopping landscape.

The original center was anchored by Bamberger's; a small, dry goods only, JCPenney; a two-level Woolworth; as well as two grocery stores: ShopRite (later a Pathmark) and Pantry Pride, later a Big Buy.. Montgomery Ward opened in May 1960.

Originally a one-level structure, the fully enclosed mall (post-1967) had a lack of skylights, with only shaded windows along the sides of the ceiling. The low lighting made the interior quite dark, as was customary with interiors of malls at the time. The mall had flooring with patterns of orange, black, yellow and white throughout the mall.

The Montgomery Ward space was taken over by Alexander's in 1972. Bamberger's was rebranded by Macy's in October 1986. When Alexander's went out of business in 1992, the mall was able to secure the second Nordstrom in New Jersey, but changes had to be made to prepare for the opening.

Most of the mall was closed from 1990 to 1991, when it underwent a significant renovation and expansion that converted it from a single-story structure into its current two-story form. In expanding and fitting into the space, the new Menlo Park Mall was built on an angle with the vertex occurring at center court. The renovated Menlo Park Mall was also changed to have galleria style skylights, domed fountain courts, marble flooring, dramatic lighting, sculptures and a large, skylit food court featuring trees and sculptures, designed to look like a formal garden. The new mall was designed by architecture firm RTKL Associates Inc. of Dallas, Texas. Two parking decks were also added, as was a 12-screen Cineplex Odeon movie theater which replaced the smaller Menlo Park Cinema on Route 1. Cineplex was later replaced by an AMC Dine-In Theater. Macy's was the only store to remain open during the primary expansion. Nordstrom officially opened to the public at Menlo Park Mall on September 27, 1991.

On March 9, 1997, Target Greatland opened across the street from the mall. Rainforest Cafe opened on September 17, 1998.

On January 27, 2003, the Cheesecake Factory opened its doors for the first time.

In 2014, Smashburger opened along with an upgrade to the food court.

In 2015, a renovation project was started which removed such features as the central fountain and trees. The food court's raised platform, sculptures, and trees were also removed, and the food court was renamed Dining Pavilion.

On September 22, 2018, a Disney Junior themed kids zone opened by Nordstrom.

References

1. "Edison building tops $2,650,000". Central New Jersey Home News. November 18, 1958. p. 13. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
2. ^ Menlo Park Mall, International Council of Shopping Centers, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 5, 2012. Accessed September 4, 2018.
3. About Menlo Park Mall, Simon Property Group. Accessed June 26, 2022.
4. "The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 31, 1962 · 3". Newspapers.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
5. Barmash, Isadore. "Nordstrom's Fashion Chain Will Expand to Jersey in '90", The New York Times, October 6, 1988. Accessed June 26, 2022. "He said that the center was opened in 1960 as an open-air mall but became an enclosed mall in 1967."
6. Reserved, Simon Media Properties LLC, © Copyright 2024 All Rights. "Menlo Park Mall". www.simon.com. Retrieved December 7, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. "In the Region: New Jersey; Renovating a Mall to Stay Competitive", The New York Times, January 13, 1991.
8. "Nordstrom gets ready for business". The Central New Jersey Home News.
9. Pristin, Terry (March 5, 1997). "Target Store Aimed at Edison". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
10. "Weekends start with us". Asbury Park Press.
11. "The Cheesecake Factory Opens in Edison, New Jersey, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated". Investors.thecheesecakefactory.com. January 28, 2003. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
12. "Smashburger Brings Fresh Flavors to Menlo Park Mall | Woodbridge, NJ Patch". Patch.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
13. "Menlo Park Mall renovations to start in spring".
14. "Disney Junior Play Zone opens at Menlo Park Mall in Edison". Mycentraljersey.com. September 22, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2019.

External links

• Official website

v t e Edison, New Jersey
Sections	List of neighborhoods
Education	Edison Township Public Schools Edison High School J. P. Stevens High School Huaxia Edison Chinese School Middlesex County Magnet Schools Edison Academy Magnet School Middlesex County Academy Middlesex County College Wardlaw-Hartridge School Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Edison branch St. Thomas Aquinas High School
Parks, recreation and entertainment	BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir Dismal Swamp Edison Wetlands Association Edison State Park Exxxotica Expo Middlesex Greenway Oak Ridge Park Plainfield Country Club Plays-in-the-Park Roosevelt Park Rutgers Ecological Preserve
Economy	Bare Necessities Crazy Eddie Gund Hackensack Meridian Health FedEx Ground Kam Man Food JFK Medical Center Menlo Park Mall News 12 New Jersey Oak Tree Road OrbitBeyond Raritan Center Zylog Systems
NRHP	Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge Laing House of Plainfield Plantation Roosevelt Hospital Benjamin Shotwell House Short Hills Battlefield Historic District Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum
History	Stelton Baptist Church Camp Kilmer Durham Woods explosion Edison Assembly Kin-Buc Landfill Mayor of Edison 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster Piscatawaytown Edison divorce torture plot People
Public transportation	Edison station Metropark Metuchen station NJT 800 buses
Roads and bridges	Raritan River bridges Interstate 287 New Jersey Turnpike U.S. Route 1 Route 27 Route 440 County Routes
This list is incomplete.

• Edison, New Jersey
• Simon Property Group
• Shopping malls established in 1959
• Shopping malls in New Jersey
• Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, New Jersey
• Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, New Jersey
• Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area
• 1959 establishments in New Jersey
• U.S. Route 1