Cherry Hill Council president to DOT: Say ‘no’ to Wawa removal of roadway islands.

A letter officially objecting to the planned removal of two landscaped neighborhood roadway islands in Cherry Hill off Route 70 to make way for a Super Wawa was sent in mid-August to the state Department of Transportation by Township Council President David Fleisher.

The letter went out about a month before the Council separately adopted a resolution telling the DOT that the medians on West Gate Drive and Kingston Drive should not be eliminated as part of Wawa’s traffic plan, which requires DOT approval.

“Elimination of the island medians, and allowing West Gate to be utilized as a turning lane into the shopping center, will result in a significant increase in cut-through vehicular traffic through the Barclay Farms and Kingston neighborhoods. This is categorically unacceptable,” Fleisher wrote in the letter, which was obtained by 70and73.com through an Open Public Records Act request.

Fleisher added that “the median islands in question are vital pieces of Cherry Hill’s history. They have long been part of the Barclay and Kingston neighborhoods since first constructed over 50 years ago and are representative of the character and charm of these safe and peaceful neighborhoods made up of well-maintained homes with quaint, tree-lined streets.”

Residents of Barclay Farm and elsewhere in Cherry Hill have staged a protest campaign against the Super Wawa store and gasoline station, which would occupy a corner of the Barclay Farm Shopping Center.

A pet supply store, which was a one-screen, first-run movie theater in the early 1960s, and the Barclay Pavilion office building would be torn down so the Wawa could be constructed. A house on West Gate Drive would be purchased and torn down for a Wawa driveway.

Council members on September 13 added to their objections to the plan by unanimously approving a resolution condemning the removal of the roadway islands. The Wawa application will go to the Township Planning Board, but a hearing has yet to be scheduled, according to the Township. The Council’s resolution was to be sent to DOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti.

In New Jersey, even the most vociferous protests of residents to zoning changes and development plans usually will not get a response from township councils, which appoint the members of planning boards and zoning boards of adjustment to separately conduct hearings and make judgments.

But the complaints of residents over eliminating the islands has drawn a strong response from Cherry Hill Council members. The Council has focused on the islands and no other aspects of the Super Wawa proposal.

Shopping center owner Hortense Associates LP, part of Kaiserman Company Inc. of Philadelphia, and Wawa have not appeared before the Planning Board, so it is unclear if their plans can advance if they cannot remove the roadway islands.

One test used in a board’s decision of whether to grant development plans is determining if the proposed development would have a “significant negative impact” on the community.

The Council’s resolution states that “the proposed removal and/or alteration of the roadway islands located on West Gate Drive and Kingston Drive will have a significant negative impact on the surrounding residential communities.”

“Removal of the islands will forever change the character of the impacted community,” the Council resolution states.

*Article courtesy of 70and73

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Amici Italian restaurant moves into historic Cherry Hill farmhouse

Chef-owner Alex A. Daku has a new home for his beloved Italian restaurant in the historic Cherry Hill farmhouse where many favorite South Jersey restaurants have left their mark.

The 1859 Colonial farmhouse has been home to favorites like the former Denim BYOB, which got its start at the farmhouse. It also briefly housed The Farmhouse. And most famously, it had been home to La Campagne.

The restaurant’s move to 312 Kresson Road was announced in December 2019. And after two years of renovations, Daku officially opened on Sept. 1.

Having vacated Amici Ristorante’s former home of nine years 306 Kresson Road, Daku has transformed that location into Bella Festa Private Events by Amici, a private party and events banquet hall. Guests can celebrate weddings, anniversaries, host parties, and more. The events venue will offer catering from the restaurant, but guests also can opt to use an outside caterer or bring their own food.

It was a goal of the Albanian-born chef to acquire property someday where he could share his Italian dishes in a restaurant designed to fit his vision – and now he’s made that dream a reality in the historic farmhouse.

“Every chef in the world out there would love to create a kitchen the way they want to and a building the way they want,” Daku said. “It’s [the farmhouse] a landmark of Cherry Hill and I’m very proud of renovating and putting a lot of dedication [into it].”

Daku grew up in the food industry with a father who owned a restaurant, butcher shop, convenience store and vegetable shop in Tirana, Albania.

Chef honed his craft in Torino, in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy while in college. Then in 2001, he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York to launch his culinary career.

Prior to opening Amici, he was a veteran of Le Jardin in Edgewater, Bergen County. Previously, he worked in The Brownstone catering hall in Paterson and the former One c.p.s. at The Plaza Hotel and the former Aqua Blue in Manhattan.

So, what’s on the menu?

Daku said he features all 21 regions of Italy on his menu.

Amici’s offerings at the farmhouse will stay relatively the same as at the first location, with some trims to give Daku space to focus on seasonal specials. With supply shortages due to the pandemic, Daku also plans to work with what’s readily available.

“If something is working, don’t break it – is what they saying, the expression,” Daku explained about keeping the dishes his customers love best.

To start, guests can find appetizers like Calamari Fritti (fried calamari) served with spicy tomato sauce and stuffed mushroom Florentine; salads like Insalata di Cesare (Caesar salad) and Burrata & Prosciutto, and soups like Zuppa di Cipolle (onion soup).

For the main course, there are pastas like Penne alla Vodka (with prosciutto), and Fettuccine con Frutti di Mare (tossed with shrimp, calamari, mussels and clams in a light tomato sauce); chicken dishes like Pollo alla Romana (chicken breast topped with prosciutto, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella in a Cognac demi-glaze); veal dishes like Vitello Piccata (sautéed veal medallions with capers in a white wine lemon sauce).

Guests can also choose from steak and burgers, or fish dishes like Salmone San Marino (grilled Norwegian Salmon with a lemon dill sauce), and sides such as roasted potatoes or sautéed spinach.

“It’s something of the regions of Italy like you get from north to south – [a little bit of] everything,” Daku said.

A classic, modern Italian restaurant

Along with Italian cuisine, guests will find the renovated space to be authentic.

“Absolutely amazing space, great location, great area,” expressed David Murray, owner of the former Denim BYOB and now Crumb in Haddonfield. “The work Alex has done to the space is unbelievable.”

“I think that it’s fantastic that the restaurant is gonna be there because, number one, he already has the following,” Murray observed. “And besides having the following, Cherry Hill needed something in that space that was going to be worthy, and he definitely was the perfect fit.”

In what was a $1.6 million project, Daku renovated the 162-year-old farmhouse from studs to beams, building it into his dream restaurant while preserving the building’s history.

His family came from Italy to help with the Venetian plaster and woodwork for the restaurant, he said. He refreshed the building with the plaster incorporated into stone and wood walls for “this beautiful, natural look,” Daku described.

The layout also changed. Previously, there were four smaller rooms on the first floor and now it’s a large dining space. The second floor is a private dining room for weekend overflow.

The exterior space and landscaping were freshened up as well, and a new sign with the Amici logo welcomes guests to come in and dine.

“It’s perfect,” Daku said. “It’s not overdone, but it’s classic. It’s modern. It has everything in it.”

Daku said the dining rooms during La Campagne’s time in the farmhouse had high noise levels, with guests’ conversations overtaking the ambiance. His main focus after the structural renovations was to reduce the noise level for guests to dine and converse easily.

“We did all the acoustics from the installation to carpeting to padding chairs, all that stuff,” Daku said. “Everything, it’s friendly for that emphasis.”

The kitchen also was built from the ground up, bringing to life Daku’s dream workspace after 25 years of working in the restaurant business: The former kitchen was 300-to-400 square feet, and now it is 1700 square feet.

‘A nightmare for everybody in our industry’

The pandemic is hard on everyone in the restaurant industry, as they continue to cope with delays, supply shortages and more.

But it also meant personal loss for Daku.

“I lost my father because of this back in April, so I had to stop construction for like six months,” Daku said. “It’s been a very tough month, a tough year for me – going through the death in the family, as well as building the location.”

The chef created a nonprofit last year through which he could provide free food to hospitals, police stations and people infected with COVID-19.

“Anybody can come in to get food without no question asked,” Daku explained. “We are very proud of this – by the quality and being human, and how we supported the community because they supported us for 10 years.”

Daku said he was “very lucky” and, through the non-profit, was able to keep all his staff employed. They have moved with him to the new location.

Despite the delays and loss, Daku is looking forward to sharing his food with the Cherry Hill community and beyond from his new home.

“I hope that everybody gonna enjoy what I did over there,” he said. “It’s a landmark that everybody can’t wait to see.”

If you go

312 Kresson Road, 856-354-1500; amicinj.com Reservations by phone are highly recommended.

*Article courtesy of Courier-Post

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Towne Place at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill continues to grow, despite pandemic

Since the early 2000s, Cherry Hill’s bustling complex Towne Place at Garden State Park has grown and evolved in the former Garden State Park racetrack and nothing, not even the pandemic, has stopped the ongoing project.

M&M Realty Partners envisioned a shopping center and residential development in the former racetrack site. The racetrack closed in 2001 and was demolished around 2004. The developers moved the development forward in phases over the next 17 years.

In 2020, Garden State Park opened TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Trader Joe’s, and a Costco Wholesale store, and signed leases for Sugar Factory American Brasserie, Wild Fork Foods, a meat and seafood market, and Trinity Rehab.

In January, the company signed leases for national food chains Chopt Creative Salad Co., a salad and grain bowl eatery, and &pizza, known for its oblong-shaped pies. They also negotiated with several other tenants yet to be announced.

With the new cast of operators, there will be openings at the shopping center starting at the end of this year and into 2021. Among them is the much-anticipated is Sugar Factory, which announced in November it would replace Zinburger at the location in mid-2021. 

The confectionery business is known for its extravagant sweets and goblet drinks that have attracted celebrities including Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Britney Spears and Drake. There are no updates on construction yet.

Cherry Hill will be one of 15 new Sugar Factory locations scheduled to open in the near future.

“We’re very, very excited,” Morris said.

Zinburger closed in March 2020 after the statewide indoor dining restrictions for restaurants were instituted to flatten the COVID-19 curve. The developers immediately reached out to several restaurants they had a relationship with, including Sugar Factory.

With more than a dozen locations across the country, the new restaurant will be the second in New Jersey; the first one is at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City.

The company added a location in Cherry Hill to expand into a more suburban area to satisfy a family-friendly demographic, representatives said.

“We are excited to introduce our high-energy, sweet restaurant and brand to the residents of Cherry Hill, New Jersey,” said Larry Rudolph, a partner at Sugar Factory. “From our colorful and vibrant dishes to our over-the-top desserts, every moment at Sugar Factory Cherry Hill will offer guests a memorable and Instagrammable experience from the minute they walk in to the minute they leave.”

*Article courtesy of Courier Post

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Barclay Farm Wawa: Shopping center owner says deed restrictions are not relevant to proposal.

Wawa Cherry Hill coming to Barclay Pavilion

The lawyer for the owner of Barclay Farm Shopping Center in Cherry Hill contends a 65-year-old deed for the property cannot be considered by the Planning Board in its review of an application to build a Super Wawa on the site.

Neighborhood opponents of the Super Wawa say a provision in the deed and supporting documents from the Barclay farming family to builder Bob Scarborough prohibits oil tanks on the property.

But that’s not an issue for the Planning Board, according to Richard J. Goldstein of Hangley, Aronchick, Segal Pudlin & Schiller, representing owner Hortense Associates LP, which is part of Kaiserman Company Inc., a Philadelphia-based real estate company.

“These restrictions are, for a variety of reasons, either not applicable to the Shopping Center or, to the extent they might be applicable, not valid or enforceable,” Goldstein states in an August 3 letter to the Township Community Development Department. “Furthermore, if any restrictions are applicable and enforceable, our proposed plan will be in compliance.”

Goldstein states that any challenge growing from deed restrictions should be “pursuant to a private legal action outside of the jurisdiction of the Planning Board and not relevant to the determinations to be made by the Planning Board.”

The Goldstein letter and other amended filings by the developer with the Township were obtained by 70and73.com through an Open Public Records Act request.

Goldstein also suggests enforcement of any deed restrictions could have a far-reaching impact beyond the Wawa project.

“It should be noted that if any of the deed restrictions are applicable and enforceable, they would apply to all of the residential properties in the vicinity of the Shopping Center covered by the convenants, as well as to all or part of the Shopping Center, and would result in the possibility of imposing a potentially significant and costly burden on each of the residential and commercial properties affected,” he states.

A group, Preserve Barclay, has hired a land-use lawyer to formally oppose Kaiserman and Wawa at the board hearings. The application has yet to be scheduled before the Planning Board.

The Wawa would be built at the northwest corner of the center’s parking lot and would require the demolition of a pet supplies store — the former Community Theatre — and the Barclay Pavilion office building.

In addition, the owner proposes to demolish a house, used as a professional office, on West Gate Drive to make way for a driveway onto the road and eliminate the landscaped median and sign for the Barclay Farm development. A similar median from Kingston Estates across Route 70 also would be removed under Wawa’s changes to the surrounding roads.

A July 7 letter to the Township from the developer’s consultants, Dynamic Engineering Consultants PC of Toms River, notes that the plan now calls for relocating the “neighborhood identification sign” to a corner of the shopping center’s lot near Route 70 and West Gate Drive. The final location would be determined during construction after consulting with Township officials, according to the plans.

The center owner also reduced the width of a proposed driveway from the center to West Gate Drive to 25 feet from 28 feet, according to Dynamic Engineering’s letter. The house being used as a professional office would be demolished to make way for the driveway. A pedestrian walkway also has been added, connecting West Gate Drive to the Wawa, the consultants told the Township in the letter.

*Article courtesy of 70and73

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Cherry Hill Township Council scrutinizing Barclay Farm Super Wawa proposal.

A highly controversial plan to build a Super Wawa at the Barclay Farm Shopping Center on Route 70 drew the ire of Cherry Hill Township Council on Monday night.

The Wawa would be built at the northwest corner of the center’s parking lot and require the demolition of a pet supplies store — the former Community Theatre — and the Barclay Pavilion office building.

In addition, owner Kaiserman Company Inc. of Philadelphia — operating as Hortense Associates LP — also proposed in its Planning Board application to demolish a house on West Gate Drive to make way for a driveway onto the road and eliminate the landscaped median and sign for the Barclay Farm development. A similar median from Kingston Estates across Route 70 also would be removed under Wawa’s changes to the surrounding roads.

“We have concerns,” Council President David Fleisher told residents at the meeting who spoke against the Wawa plans. “Particularly, we object to the removal of those medians at the entrance to the Barclay neighborhood as well as to Kingston.”

Fleisher said the Council is making its objections known to the state Department of Transportation, which decides on changes to the roads, and Council members will continue to look into the “application as a whole,” Fleisher said. The application has yet to be scheduled before the Planning Board.

“Some of you noted we are not the Planning Board, but we have a representative on the Planning Board and certainly when you have a project that extends beyond its initial site plan, and the offsite components of that begin to directly infringe on some of the items that were discussed, we have a concern,” he said at the meeting.

Several residents used the public comment portion of Monday night’s meeting to protest the Wawa plan. A group, Preserve Barclay, has hired a land-use lawyer to formally oppose Kaiserman and Wawa at the board hearings. He did not speak at Monday’s meeting.

“I’d like to speak to Council in general about the importance of preserving the character of our community and neighborhood values,” Cherry Hill native Martha Wright, who lives on Munn Lane, said at the meeting. Wright is one of the leaders of the Preserve Barclay movement.

“Folks, this is a neighborhood killer. This town does not need another gas station. This town does not need more traffic backed up on Route 70. This town does need its landscaped median entrances and open space. This is what identifies our neighborhood, whether we are in Barclay or Kingston or in any other community in this town,” she said.

She called on Council and Mayor Susan Shin Angulo to listen to the residents of Barclay and Kingston. “We do not support this application. We do not support commercial creep. And we resent the concept of removing landscaped medians to provide better access to a commercial concern,” she said.

70and73.com recently contacted Kaiserman and asked for comment on the residents’ opposition. “Given that our application is still under review by the Department of Community Development and pending before the Planning Board, it is our practice to refrain from making any comments regarding our proposed project at this time,” Max Kaiserman, director of marketing and revenue at Kaiserman, responded in an email.

In the last two years, residents have loudly protested commercial changes on and near Route 70 that they contend infringe on their neighborhoods. The projects included the expansions of Cherry Hill Dodge on Route 70 and the Land Rover dealership on Haddonfield Road.

*Article courtesy of 70and73

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

How a New Super Wawa Likely Will Erase a Bit of Cherry Hill History

When Cherry Hill’s one-screen, 600-seat Community Theatre opened in a corner of the Barclay Farms Shopping Center in June 1963, moviegoers viewed “The Wrong Arm of the Law,” starring Peter Sellers.

That was 58 years ago, when John F. Kennedy was president and the town was booming with homebuilding. The name “Cherry Hill” was just 2 years old, changed by voters in a 1961 referendum to reflect the name of the new, elaborate mall that opened that year. The old name, Delaware Township, was retired.

As multi-screen theaters opened in the suburbs, The Community was sold and sold again. In 1983, the theater’s sloping floor was leveled and the movie seats removed to make way for the Silver Palace Show Hall & Pizza Place, similar to the Chuck E. Cheese model with robotic figures, games and pizza.

Today, a pet supplies store operates from the old Community theater building on the northwest corner of the shopping center.

And that former theater likely will be torn down in coming months to clear that part of the center’s parking lot for a new Super Wawa.

The 45,374-square-foot Barclay Pavilion office building in the southwest corner of the shopping center and a professional office in a house on West Gate Drive also would be razed to fit the super Wawa and accommodate a driveway connecting to the street that leads into the Barclay Farm neighborhood.

Barclay center owner Hortense Associates LP of Philadelphia submitted an application to the Planning Board in April for preliminary and final major site plan approvals and zoning variances to construct the Super Wawa, the concept of which has been discussed for a few years. The application probably will go before the board in the next three to six months.

To address traffic, Hortense Associates also plans to make major changes to the intersection of Route 70 and West Gate Drive, which leads into the Barclay neighborhood.

An ophthalmologist’s office in a house at 99 West Gate Drive would be torn down and an entrance and exit from the Wawa parking lot would be added, according to the application. The West Gate Drive driveway would be right-in and right-out only, according to the plans. The driveway on the eastbound lane of Route 70 would remain as right in and right out only.

A second phase to the project would add a new two-tenant, 12,499-square-foot retail building behind the Wawa in the area of the Barclay Pavilion now. A legacy Wawa convenience store on the other side of Route 70 would close.

*Article courtesy of 70and73

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Hotel, Expanded Retail Space Planned for Cherry Hill Towne Center at Garden State Park

The owner of the Cherry Hill Towne Center at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill plans to build a 140-room, five-story hotel on the site with a rooftop bar, according to a proposal before the Planning Board.

Plans for the hotel and expanded retail and restaurant space were filed last month by Cherry Hill Towne Center Partners LLC of Piscataway, which owns the 22-acre retail and residential center at Route 70 and Haddonfield Road. The rooftop bar would be 5,600 square feet, according to the application.

An Old Navy store would fill expanded retail space in the building that now houses DSW Shoes, Ulta and Barnes & Noble, according to the plans.

Branding information on the hotel and other stores and restaurants in the two-phase expansion was not disclosed in the filing, which goes before the board at its meeting on June 21.

*Article courtesy of 70and73

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Former Vitarelli’s Restaurant in Cherry Hill to be Torn Down and Replaced with a Liquor Store

Plans to demolish the now-closed Vitarelli’s Restaurant & Catering — a business with a 45-year history — and replace it with a liquor store were approved this week by the Cherry Hill Planning Board.

The board voted 6-0 for the resolution on Monday night, giving final approval to owner 1250 N. Kings Highway LLC to remove the building. The application lists Prakash Patel of Birch Street in Voorhees as the member/manager of the LLC.

Vitarelli’s was opened by Joseph and Mary Vitarelli as a takeout-only restaurant in 1975 on the site of a former delicatessen, according to a newspaper report in 1989. It added space for diners and was operated until February 2020 by David Vitarelli, the couple’s son. Cherry Hill Township records show the building was constructed around 1970.

Vitarelli’s entrance is on West Tampa Avenue. The property sits behind a BP gasoline station on Kings Highway and next to the Cherry Hill Library.

The resolution approved preliminary and final major site plans and bulk variances for the development. The current restaurant building is about 6,030 square feet and encroaches by about 500 square feet onto a neighboring residential lot. Under the developer’s plan, the new building will be 5,880 square feet, eliminating encroachment.

Traffic analysis by Nathan B. Mosley, an engineer with Shropshire Associates LLC of Atco, forecasts an additional 49 trips during the afternoon and evening peak hours (total 96 trips) and 21 during the Saturday midday peak hour (total 96 trips) compared with the previous use as a restaurant.

Business hours for the liquor stores will be 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays, according to the application.

*Article Courtesy of 70 and 73

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage, and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces, and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors, and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Proposal Calls for Liquor Store at Vitarelli’s Site in Cherry Hill

A Voorhees businessman wants to raze the building that held Vitarelli’s, a long-time presence on the 1200 block of North Kings Highway, according to a proposal before the township’s planning board.

The proposal is one of two conversion projects expected to go before the planning board at its May 17 meeting.

The township panel also will consider an application by Azura Surgery Center of Cherry Hill to occupy a vacant store on eastbound Route 70 near Conestoga Drive.

A 5,880-square-foot building at the Vitarelli’s site would be used for the sale of wine, liquor and beer, says an application from Prakesh Patel.

It says the site, which is accessible from West Tampa Avenue, would be upgraded “with new curbing, paving, sidewalks and lighting.” The plan also calls for an additional 2,000 square feet of green space at the property.

The business would operate from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, the application says.

The existing building was erected around 1970 to hold six shops. A deli at the site eventually expanded into Vitarelli’s, which closed in 2020.

Patel, who acquired the building for $500,000 in October 2020, could not be reached for immediate comment.

In a separate project, Azura would occupy a vacant building that previously held a Calico Corners fabric shop.

The facility would offer “vascular access procedures” for patients with end-stage renal disease, its application says.

It also would provide a range of “interventional radiology procedures.”

Azura currently has a Cherry Hill office on the 200 block of South Kings Highway.

A representative of the surgery center could not be reached for comment Monday.

*Article Courtesy of Courier Post

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.

Wild Fork Foods Coming to Cherry Hill

Wild Fork Foods Cherry Hill New Jersey

It was a weird site on Haddonfield Road last spring – brand new buildings housing a Trader Joe’s, Home Goods, and TJ Maxx being constructed in the shadow of a similarly styled Pier One, which was closing.  Pier One closed last spring and has been empty since then, but MarltonPike.com has learned that Wild Forks Foods will soon call it home!  The former Pier One will be subdivided, with Wild Fork Foods creating a store of 3,543 square feet.

What is Wild Fork Foods?

It doesn’t appear there really is a comparison to make here, as it appears that Wild Fork has a unique business model.  “We set out to transform the way we shop for and consume meat.  By controlling every step of the process from farm to fork we ensure you get the highest quality, biggest selection, and most consistent eating experience.”

Currently, there are only 8 Wild Fork locations – all in Florida. But the company specializes in ‘blast freezing’ meat, so consumers around the country can order frozen meat online to be delivered to their door.  What is ‘blast freezing’?  Blast freezing is a process of rapidly freezing meat, 10 times faster than the normal freezing process.  Typically, the slow process of freezing meat causes ice crystals to damage the cell walls of food, reducing the quality of meat.  With blast freezing, the rapid process does not allow large ice crystals to form, so when your meat defrosts, the quality of meat is much higher than your typical frozen meat.  At Wild Foods, they blast freeze at -40 degrees to maintain peak freshness.

And what a selection of meat Wild Fork offers!  While it has your typical cuts of beef, pork, chicken, and lamb, it also has specialty meats – alligator, ostrich, yak, duck, bison, elk, venison, veal, rabbit, goat, octopus, calamari…. The list goes on!

The typical store is lined with freezers on the outer walls, with additional freezer cases in the aisles.  It is not like a typical supermarket – you won’t find paper products, cat food, or vitamins – just meat and produce.

We will keep you updated as construction commences and let you know an opening date as soon as we find out!  Current schedules show construction is expected to start in late June, with completion in late September.

*Article Courtesy of MarltonPike

For more information about this Cherry Hill retail space or about any other Cherry Hill commercial properties for sale or lease, please contact the team at Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker at 856-857-6300.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate, a full-service CORFAC International brokerage and advisory firm, is a premier Cherry Hill commercial real estate broker that provides a full range of Cherry Hill commercial real estate listings and services related to this retail space.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate also offers property management services, and marketing commercial offices, medical properties, warehouse properties, industrial properties, land properties, retail spaces and other Cherry Hill commercial properties for buyers, tenants, investors and sellers. Please visit our websites for a full listing of Cherry Hill commercial properties for lease or sale through our Cherry Hill commercial real estate brokerage firm.