From Rues Lane, the first finished piece of the Brunswick Square makeover looks like a typical mall opening. Nordstrom Rack opened its 27,000-square-foot store at 755 State Route 18 on October 29, with a $1,000 gift card drawing at 8:45 a.m. and the doors opening at 9. Mayor Brad Cohen told the township council it was "the beginning of a series of openings that should come within the next couple of months," Patch reported.
The largest announced tenants are an indoor pickleball club, a family adventure park, a health care operator and a township community center. Together they take up more than five times the floor space of the store that just opened. The redevelopment plan the East Brunswick Township Council adopted in September is designed around the same idea: a plaza, a walkable spine and room for outdoor events.
What's open at the mall right now
Brunswick Square stays open during construction, and the mall's own site says individual store hours may vary. These are the businesses the Brunswick Square website lists as open during renovations:
- Barnes & Noble
- AMC Theatres
- Panera Bread
- Twisted Crab
- Habit Burger
- Olive Garden
- Results Boxing
- JCPenney
- Macy's Clearance
- Nordstrom Rack
- Firestone
The site also lists LensCrafters as opening soon. Nordstrom Rack has online order pickup for Nordstrom.com and NordstromRack.com purchases and takes returns in the store, so it saves a trip to another mall. Manolo Gonzalez, Nordstrom's territory director for New Jersey, told TAPinto East Brunswick that this store is one of four Nordstrom Rack locations opening in the state in 2026.
Edgewood Properties and Paramount Realty bought the mall in late 2023. Their plan turns the enclosed center into an open-air property with a mix of shopping, health care, fitness and recreation. Old Navy, LensCrafters, Bath & Body Works, Barnes & Noble, Panera and Twisted Crab are among the existing tenants staying or moving within the property, according to RE-NJ's reporting as summarized by Patch.
Where the new square footage is going
The mayor's list of upcoming tenants included J.Crew and PGA TOUR Superstore. The tenants with published sizes are almost all something other than a store.
| Tenant | What it is | Reported size |
|---|---|---|
| Fun City Adventure Park | Family entertainment center | 55,000 sq ft |
| The Picklr | Indoor pickleball facility | 40,000 sq ft |
| Hackensack Meridian Health | Health care | About 37,000 sq ft |
| Township community center | Basketball courts and batting cages | 19,000 sq ft |
| Nordstrom Rack | Off-price apparel and home | 27,000 sq ft |
The first four rows add up to about 151,000 square feet of play, exercise, health care and public recreation. Nordstrom Rack, the first new retailer, is 27,000. For the size of the shift, compare the redevelopment plan's two new large retail buildings, which total about 60,000 square feet, less than half of what those four tenants will occupy.
PGA TOUR Superstore's East Brunswick store page, at 755 NJ-18, lists its grand opening as June 12, 2027. The mayor listed J.Crew, Fun City Adventure Park, The Picklr and Hackensack Meridian Health as expected in the coming months.
The plan the council adopted is built around gathering space
On September 28 the council voted 5-0 to adopt Ordinance 26-25, the Brunswick Square Mall and Vicinity Redevelopment Plan for Phases I and II, TAPinto East Brunswick reported. The ordinance covers Block 131, Lots 7.01, 20.01, 20.03 and 20.04, and it makes the plan part of the township's zoning for those properties. The township Planning Board found it "not inconsistent" with the master plan and made no further recommendations.
Township planner Kate Keller told the council at the September 14 presentation, "The retail was always going to remain the focus," TAPinto reported. The plan's design choices go further than adding stores, though:
- A public plaza of at least 10,000 square feet near the center of the site, with possible outdoor dining, seating, shade and an amphitheater-style area for community events.
- A "green boulevard" with landscaping and shade that connects destinations across the property on foot.
- Less dominant parking, with landscaped islands, shade trees and buffers along parts of Route 18 and Rues Lane.
- Encouraged features including rain gardens, electric vehicle charging and bicycle infrastructure.
Phase I is the existing retail core. Phase II covers the Macy's building and the large parking field along Rues Lane. In the conceptual plan, the Macy's building would eventually be demolished and replaced with retail and residential uses. Olive Garden sits inside Phase II, and Keller said no change to the restaurant is proposed. The plan allows one residential building toward the back of the property, with up to 250 units, four stories, a 55-foot height limit and a required setback of at least 250 feet from Rues Lane. Twenty percent of the units would be affordable housing that counts toward the township's fourth-round obligation for 2025 through 2035.
The JCPenney and Firestone properties on the northern part of the site are not in this plan, and Keller said JCPenney is open and intends to stay.
What the vote does, and what comes after it
Adopting the plan sets the rules for the site. It does not approve construction, TAPinto explained when the plan was introduced. A redeveloper still has to be designated, a redevelopment agreement negotiated, and preliminary and final site plans approved by the Planning Board. Keller said the work could take several years, and the two phases don't have to be built in order.
Residents raised concerns at both meetings. At the September 28 hearing, according to TAPinto's report on the vote, speakers brought up density, traffic, taxes and the public-input process. One resident said the mall needs redevelopment but objected to adding hundreds of apartments. Another said the township should have used more meetings or an advisory committee before the plan reached the council, and questioned the extra commercial pad sites along Route 18. Keller told the council there had been "no substantive changes" since the plan was introduced. The final version only dropped the draft label, added a table of contents and corrected a sign location.
Rues Lane is where the daily changes would show up
For residents who use Rues Lane rather than Route 18, the traffic pieces matter most. The concept reconfigures the mall's internal ring road and moves parts of it farther back from Rues Lane. It also looks at reducing or reorganizing the access points along that road. Township planners are considering a new traffic signal at Rues Lane and Hillsdale Road. Keller said these traffic changes are preliminary and need more engineering and coordination with outside agencies. Officials will also look at whether another NJ Transit bus stop could go closer to the residential part of the site.
Dates on the calendar
- Now: Nordstrom Rack and the existing tenants are open while construction continues.
- Saturday, December 5, 1 to 6 p.m.: East Brunswick's fourth annual Winter Wonderland at the Municipal Complex, with a holiday market, food trucks and live music. The tree and menorah lighting is at the municipal-pond gazebo at 6 p.m., and Sunday, December 6 is the weather backup date, according to TAPinto East Brunswick.
- June 12, 2027: PGA TOUR Superstore's listed grand opening at 755 NJ-18.
If you own a home near Route 18 or Rues Lane, the plan for Brunswick Square will be part of how buyers look at your block for years. At Links NJ, we follow changes like this closely, and we'd be glad to show you what they mean for your property. Request a free home valuation, and we'll walk you through it with current local numbers.
