Construction is scheduled to begin this fall on a ShopRite supermarket and scores of apartments at a Central Ward site, thrilling labor organizations who feared mega-retailer Walmart would build there instead. Tucker Development Corp., which also recently built a Marriot hotel on Broad Street, announced Tuesday its plans for the 11-acre Springfield Avenue Marketplace, which will boast 125,000 square feet of retail space at the corner of Springfield Avenue and Jones Street. The supermarket will take up about half that space, CEO Richard Tucker said in a statement.

Construction of the supermarket should take about a year, a Tucker spokesman said Tuesday. "Today's announcement is wonderful news for our city," Mayor Cory Booker said. "Newark residents deserve convenient access to fresh and healthy food options, and there is no better place for a large grocery store than Springfield Avenue."

"The site where the ShopRite will be built has been vacant for over 20 years, and this store, along with the other developments slated to go on that 11-acre parcel, will be a game-changer for that part of Springfield Avenue," said Councilman Darrin Sharif, who represents the Central Ward on the Newark Municipal Council. "This is a homecoming of sorts for Wakefern, which located its first warehouse in Newark in 1946," said Neil Greenstein, president of the Newark ShopRite and a member of the family that has operated the Brookdale ShopRite in Bloomfield for six decades.

Along with the supermarket, the plans call for the construction of 150 new apartments and space for other retailers. The company is now pitching the site to local, regional and national chains, Tucker said.

Because of its location within an Urban Enterprise Zone, food and clothing bought at the Springfield Avenue Marketplace will be exempt from state sales tax, while the tax will be reduced by half on other merchandise.

Wakefern Corp., the distribution arm of ShopRite, had long been rumored to be interested in the site, as was Walmart, the world's largest retailer. A coalition of labor and other groups, however, urged city officials to bar Walmart and instead encourage Wakefern because of the former's anti-union stance and for what critics say are its low employee wages. Those groups staged a protest on the steps of Newark City Hall in December.