Back in December 2021, Gloucester Twp approved a new 11,900 sq ft retail strip mall for Berlin-Cross Keys Rd. Recent job listings state one of tenants is expected to be Mission BBQ Sicklerville fast casual restaurant.
Documents submitted to the Township indicate a dental office is also a potential tenant. The front façade of that unit is reminiscent of Aspen Dental, who is expanding into South Jersey with new locations planned for Cherry Hill, Voorhees and Burlington Township.
The new multi-tenant building for Gloucester Township will located at 601 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd, which is the former church property directly next to the Shoppes at Gloucester (and across the street from Patient First Urgent Care & Creanies Ice Cream).
The church building (on the right side of the property) was previously redeveloped into US Renal Dialysis center, and is unaffected by the new building plans… although the dialysis center will be getting a new dedicated parking area in front of their building (currently grass) as part of this effort
The new building will be on the left side of the property, at the back of the larger parking area.
Very specifically at the back of the parking lot is an elongated water basin area and the building will be developed in that general area. A new water retention area to replace that, will be installed to the very far left of the property.
The former Bertucci’s restaurant is close by to the left of this property. Bertucci’s closed in October 2022 and there are no known uses for the property at this time.
Cedar Properties At 601 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd.
This Gloucester Township project is being developed by Cedar Properties out of Mt Laurel NJ. Cedar Properties is actually a company associated with Interstate Commercial Real Estate.
In the past I’ve chatted with their representative on this project, but my email yesterday with additional questions has not been answered at the time of this article’s publication.
It’s interesting to note that Interstate Commercial does an excellent job with marketing their available properties and I even chatted with their representative about this specific property… but there is zero information online about it. Could it be completely rented already?
Cedar Properties appeared before the Gloucester Township Planning Board on December 14, 2021 requesting approval to develop the retail shopping center on Berlin-Cross Keys Rd.
Because Berlin-Cross Keys Rd is a County maintained road, approval from the Camden County Planning Board was also required, and that meeting took place on December 21, 2021.
Submitted site plans and renderings show a rectangular shaped building which will run across the back of the property.
The building is partitioned into 5 segments.
The left most segment is the largest and is identified as a Dental Office. The front façade of that section has an arch rising up above the roofline. As mentioned, the arch and other design elements are very reminiscent of Aspen Dental.
The unit on the furthest right is the next largest, and is identified as a restaurant.
At 2,400 sq feet it would seem small for a Mission BBQ (compared to the Deptford location) but maybe they will combine the two end units for a larger 4,400 sq foot space.
A question in the Camden County documentation references a traffic analysis document which they say lists Chipotle was a potential tenant. But the submitted site plans do not reference the now signature “Chipotlane” drive-up pickup window and it clearly would be a complete redesign of the project to accommodate that, so seems unlikely that Chipotle would be part of this project.
Mission BBQ for Berlin-Cross Keys?
Mission BBQ is a growing chain of BBQ restaurants with over 100 locations.
The serve delicious BBQ food including pork and chicken, and the restaurants are themed to support military and public response forces… and American values.
They also have a charitable element to the business, raising money for organizations which also support military and public response forces.
Honestly I’ve only been to the Deptford location. While there is a similar “fast-casual” ordering process of “pick a meat, pick a style, pick a side”… the restaurant in Deptford is very large in comparison to others in the category (at least double the size of a Chipotle) and they have adorned the walls with décor specific to miliary and first responders.
General Manager Job Listing for Sicklerville
The “General Manager” job listings for a Sicklerville location of Mission BBQ have appeared online all summer long.
But initially they simply said “Sicklerville” as a location.
I wasn’t the only one to notice as a few 42Freeway readers also reached out.
I chatted with some folks in the Deptford location who also confirmed that a location was planned for Berlin-Cross Keys Road but they had no idea where.
So two months ago I drove Berlin-Cross Keys and looked at every nook-and-cranny of road looking for what could be a suitable Mission BBQ location. Based on what I know the Deptford location size, I didn’t see any existing matches.
So yes I absolutely knew about the plans for this new shopping center in the article I am publishing now.
But what didn’t make sense… if no dirt has been even turned yet at the new retail property, why would Mission BBQ be looking for a General Manager already?
I get how having the GM locked in early will really help with all of the details of getting the building developed and staff hired… but just seemed very early.
So I still didn’t report on it.
But then in October I noticed a new version of General Manager job listing at Indeed that very clearly says “601 Berlin-Cross Keys Road, Sicklerville NJ”
The new listing added the exact address of the new retail project.
And to be clear this posting is from the official Mission BBQ indeed page, not some other site rehashing job postings.
On October 18th when I captured images of the website page it was an active listing.
When you look at the listing today it has been updated at the top with “This Job has expired on Indeed”
But it’s still on the public internet, and still has the 601 Berlin-Cross Keys Address.
At this time I have no idea when this project will start, and when Mission BBQ is expected to open.
Most of those details sits with Cedar Properties, although I will be checking with the Gloucester Township construction office for information on existing permits.
Links and Locations
New Retail Strip Mall (Approved, Not Developed).
Potentially featuring Mission BBQ and Aspen Dental
601 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd
Sicklerville, NJ