More hurdles have been cleared to construct a new shopping plaza in a suburban Morris County township.
The Waterview Marketplace will be built at the northwest corner of Route 46 and Waterview Boulevard in Parsippany-Troy Hills, near the border of Mountain Lakes, on property that has long been a wooded tract.
According to a LoopNet listing from Ripco Real Estate, the complex, which is being developed by RD Management, LLC and JMF Properties, will include 150,150 square feet of retail space in six units, as well as a bank. 775 parking spaces will be provided on the premises. According to Morris County records, “the back of the property has been dedicated by the developer to the town for open space”
Although the names of the vast majority of businesses that will operate at Waterview Marketplace have not yet been revealed, what is known is that a Whole Foods Market location will be included in the complex.
The store will be the third in Morris County, after Madison and Morristown, and will take up 49,000 square feet on the western edge of the plaza. The website for JMF Properties states that the market “is the perfect anchor for what will be the most vibrant retail environment in Morris County.”
According to Parsippany Focus, an agreement between the Township and the developer was passed 5-0 by the Township Council in April, and the project was approved by the Township Planning Board last year.
Developing this property has not been without controversy from local residents. According to the Daily Record, there were originally plans for 72 townhouses and retail space at the plaza, followed by a proposed 666 units of affordable housing, but hundreds of residents showed up to Township meetings to protest.
When faced with a choice between the 666-unit project and the current plan, one resident described the Waterview Marketplace proposal as “the lesser of two evils,” the publication reported.
