By Sunayana Prabhu
TINTON FALLS – A new retail center is planned for Tinton Avenue near the borough hall.
The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) advanced the development of a new town center across from the borough’s municipal building. The pandemic-delayed project is expected to be completed by March 31, 2030, according to Sarah Giberson, director of Real Estate Development & Marketing for FMERA.
In 2015, FMERA entered into a redevelopment agreement with US Home Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lennar Corporation, a national homebuilding and real estate development company. The agreement included the construction of a dual residential and commercial project on nearly 52 acres in Fort Monmouth’s Tinton Falls Reuse Area. The site is located next to the Tinton Falls Borough Hall along Tinton Avenue, close to Monmouth Regional High School and developing areas, such as the RWJBarnabas Health 252‑bed acute care hospital at the Vogel Medical Campus, currently under construction.
The residential phase included 288 residential units, including 243 townhome units and 45 single-family detached homes, with 20% set aside for affordable housing.
The residential portion is now “essentially complete,” Giberson said.
At the Aug. 19 meeting, FMERA advanced the retail project by permitting the property to be divided into separate residential and commercial lots.
The long-delayed retail phase will consist of approximately 65,700 square feet of retail and office space. Lennar is also obligated to create 35 permanent jobs at the property or pay a penalty of $1,500 for each job not created.
Giberson said FMERA extended the completion timeline to accommodate the property’s development in two separate phases.
The intention of the project remains “mixed-use, town center-style development inclusive of residential and complementary commercial uses,” Giberson said.
According to the resolution, in a correspondence dated July 28, 2026, Lennar said it was delayed in completing the proposed retail phase of the project due to “challenges associated with the pandemic and a lack of marketability due to similarly stalled development on the adjacent parcels.”
Now, with the construction of the nearby Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health campus and the acquisition of the former Commvault Headquarters as a new Bell Works Fort Monmouth, the developer noted there is renewed interest in retail on the site and is prepared to move forward with construction.
The development will bring a centrally located town center to the borough.
The borough is about 15.6 square miles in size and measures approximately 9 miles in length and 1.75 miles in width, according to details on the borough’s website. Due to its unusual shape and length, the borough is bordered by nine other municipalities. For most regular needs, such as groceries or a pharmacy, residents have to drive to other towns. Although there is a plethora of food and retail options for residents on Route 35, the only grocery store with a Tinton Falls address is Uncle Giuseppe’s at 980 Shrewsbury Ave. A CVS pharmacy located at 3000 Essex Road is on the southern border of the borough.
The borough consists of residential neighborhoods and commercial development as well as several large public land uses, including Naval Weapons Station Earle and the Monmouth County Reclamation Center.
Mayor Risa Clay said the retail center is still in a very nascent stage. Concept plans have not yet been presented to the borough, but Clay hopes the development will bring good amenities to the area. “Anything that goes in there will be attractive to the hospital. It’ll be attractive to the high school and certainly to the borough.”
The article originally appeared in the August 27 – September 2, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
