Bill Duhart

The dark and cavernous former Burlington Center Mall had a faint musty smell on a recent weekday morning.

Three months after Sears, the final store was shuttered, weeds led the way to the doors of the 1.5 million square-foot mall and shattered glass from vandals served as breadcrumbs to navigate the dark interior.

Redevelopment plans are underway. The 36-year-old mall, which sits on a 2-mile stretch of Burlington-Mount Holly Road in Burlington Township, between two of the busiest highways in the state, the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 295, will soon be demolished.

Local officials and the mall owner, Moonbeam Capital, haven’t nailed down what happens next. Both are looking for the right mix of retail, commercial and residential to remake this space which was once a community crossroad.

Meanwhile, an effort is also underway to salvage an original piece of public art commissioned for the mall when it opened in 1982. The Water Hole, a life-sized statue and fountain of an African elephant with a 10-year-old boy riding high on his back, is due to be donated to a local nonprofit if an internet effort to raise $40,000 to have it removed and reinstalled is successful.

Until then, a watchman looks over what remains of the Marketplace at Burlington, as it was known in its final days until the walls are torn down.

Take a peek inside before that happens.

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

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Bill Duhart

Zenos Frudakis, the sculptor who crafted the statue and fountain, known as The Waterfall, is now helping lead an effort to save it before the mall is demolished to make way for a new retail development.

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

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Bill Duhart

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"It's a sign of economic times," Burlington Township Mayor Brian Carlin said. "It's a sign of a building that was once productive that has now outlived its intended use."

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Medi

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"The site has become obsolete, meaning it no longer serves the retail market as an enclosed mall, and subsequently has become vacant and deteriorated," said Mark Remsa, director of economic development and regional planning at the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which helps oversee development in the county. "The site is ready for redevelopment. There needs to be a study to figure out what that redevelopment should be."

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

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Inside the former Macy's at the shuttered Burlington Center Mall in Burlington Township, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018.

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

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Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

Burlington Township officials said they faced a similar challenge redeveloping a former Kmart shopping strip nearby on Route 541, between Sunset Road and Kelly Drive. The strip had been vacant for a period of time but the owners agreed to a declaration of an area in need of redevelopment as a recruiting strategy for new tenants.

The strip is now close to fully occupied and includes stores such as ShopRite and Chick-fil-A.

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Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips