The September Deptford Planning Board meeting featured the final major site plan for the Freeway Diner property, located on Rt 41 at the entrance to 42 South.
42 Freeway blog was not able to attend this meeting, but we’ve followed up with the Equity Retail Brokers team putting the project together, for details on plans and timelines.
Starbucks
As previously reported, a Starbuck coffee shop is a featured tenant for a portion of the location. There is space for multiple stores and buildings, and several rumors have circulated.
AT&T Wireless
The big NEW news is that Freeway Diner property will include an AT&T wireless store! Anyone who knows this intersection can tell you that there already is an AT&T wireless store at the intersection, on the opposite corner in the lot where Staples is located. Apparently, the current location is one of the busiest in the area, and is just too small to support the business volume, creating the need for a new building.
Recently Verizon Wireless opened a new store in Turnersville, which is a surprisingly large building. It seems to compete in the thriving wireless phone space, customer space and comfort is a key concern, and AT&T Wireless is making sure they continue to compete.
According to documents on the Real Estate services website, the Freeway Diner property is 100% leased, which indicates that these two businesses are the only two for the property.
The attached site plan was based on earlier designs, and it is not clear at this time if the final layout matches what is currently depicted.
Timeline
With the development plan moving forward, the next step is for the project to be approved by NJDOT, as Route 41 is a state highway. This could take several months.
Preliminary work in support of demolition is taking place, such as utility shutoff (I saw the Deptford MUA on the property about a week ago)
Permits are still in process, so the actual demolition probably won’t start until early spring 2018.
With the lot cleared and prepped, they expect the buildings to go up quickly and are looking at a Summer 2018 opening.