Advance Robbinsville
SEPTEMBER 2018
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Positive development? New owner for Foxmoor Shopping Center gives township optimism By siDDhaRth mUchhaL Finally, a new owner for Foxmoor Shopping Center. Through an online auction on Aug. 1, Penmark Management Company Inc. purchased the center for $7.5 million. The sale becomes official and permanent by September. Penmark has promised to honor all existing leases. Township officials hope, through this change in leadership, Foxmoor Shopping Center has the opportunity to
once again become the small business hub of Robbinsville. From July 30 to August 1, through a private online auction platform, U.S. Bank sold the Foxmoor Shopping Center property to Penmark for $7.5 million, under the appraised value of $13.1 million. The bidding started at $2.5 million, and though the names of bidders were not revealed, the auction itself was quite active. Penmark, the owners of Suburban Square Shopping Center on Scotch Road in Ewing, has a history of improving and revitalizing shopping malls. Penmark purchased the Coventry Mall in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in April 2016, and increased the occupancy rate from 65 percent to 89 percent
in two years. A Robbinsville Township release noted that foot traffic at Coventry Mall increased with more food vendors and following muchneeded repairs to the complex. Penmark declined to comment on the Foxmoor Shopping Center purchase since the deal was not finalized by press time. But Robbinsville Director of Community Development Hal English and other township officials have high hopes for the new ownership. English emphasized the importance of opening a food store, especially since so many Robbinsville residents now have to go out of town for grocery shopping after Thriftway closed in 2011. “Penmark owns many malls See FOXMOOR, Page 10
Resource officers set for school By LaURa PoLLack
lpollack@communitynews.org
Robbinsville High boys’ soccer captain Matt Hevey knocks the ball down to trap it Aug. 17, 2018 during practice. For more soccer, turn to Page 18. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Officer Ed Vincent was in fi fth grade when he knew he wanted to be a police officer. Trooper Harris, a state police officer who was stationed at his school, was just about the coolest guy Vincent knew. The state trooper, who Vincent described as a big, strong guy who looked impressive in his uniform, had a lot in common with the fi fth grader. Not only were they both wrestlers, but the trooper shared Vincent’s desire to be kind to others. “Once he talked a little bit about [his] job and what you get to do, it made me think it’d be perfect for me,” Vincent said. “I never cared what race you were or what religion you were, if you
had the coolest shoes or the uglies shoes, if you were rich or poor. I mean it from the bottom of my heart, I cared about everybody and wanted everyone to be nice to everybody.” When Trooper Harris told Vincent that being a police officer meant helping others, Vincent knew that’s exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. Not only is Vincent now an officer in the Robbinsville Police Department, but he’s helping children learn the same lessons he learned from Trooper Harris as one of the district’s three school resource officers. For the past six years, Vincent was the district’s only school resource officer, working primarily in the high school with regular visits to the middle and elementary schools.
This school year, he’s joined by two other officers — Melyssa Alonso and Det. Kevin Colgan — who will work at Sharon Elementary and Pond Middle School, respectively. After the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the Robbinsville Board of Education added two additional resource officers in a push to increase school safety. The additions ensure there is a fulltime police officer stationed in every school, and the school district and township are splitting the cost. The officers will be responsible for just about everything that falls under the umbrella of school safety. From helping police officers run drills in the schools and monitoring who See OFFICERS, Page 12
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