HAMILTON — After being sold at auction, one of the notoriously derelict shopping centers in the township is expected to undergo a transformation.

New York developer IP Associates LLC in May won the note for debt owed on the Independence Plaza property, a South Broad Street shopping center that has been a shell of its former self over the last decade.

The company, headed by Jack Jemal and family, owns numerous shopping centers throughout New Jersey, spokesman Harry Zlokower said.

“They’re in the real estate business. They buy and reposition properties,” Zlokower said. “That’s why they bought this property. That’s what they do.”

Zlokower declined to state the amount paid for the note, but township economic development director Mike Angarone said the company had bid about

$1.4 million more than the other four bidders.

The shopping center is about 80 percent vacant — its main tenant is the Sticky Wicket bar and restaurant — and much of the facade around the 252,000-square-foot center shows outlines of signs advertising businesses that long ago left.

The 12-screen Destinta movie theater remains shuttered, its parking lot used by summer visitors to a Rita’s Italian ice store.

IP Associates LLC is ready and willing to invest in the shopping center, paying for the cleanup and maintenance in addition to redeveloping the center as a whole, Zlokower said.

“They’re going to need to remediate and clean up the area once they take over, and then they want to re-tenant and fill up the space,” Zlokower said.

Redevelopment has been the name of the game for failing shopping centers throughout the township.

This summer, Suburban Plaza, a 90-percent-vacant shopping center on Route 33, is set to be partially demolished to make way for the new Court at Hamilton Center, anchored by a Walmart.

On Route 33, both Hamilton Plaza and Mercerville Shopping Center have gone through massive renovations that included expansions, new facades and landscaping, and have seen an uptick in business.

Angarone said yesterday that talks between the owners of the Cost Cutters plaza on Whitehorse Mercerville Road and a redeveloper had progressed, with the two sides only needing to “cross their Ts and dot their Is.”

Discussions between the township and the buyer, who Angarone declined to discuss, have included talks of a new zoning overlay for the shopping center, allowing something other than retail to be built on the site.

But for Independence Plaza, the goal always has been to revitalize the shopping center to its former glory, Angarone said.

The township and developer are set to meet within the coming weeks to discuss plans for the property, including the possibility of applying for state grants.

“They understand what the issues are and the township will try to do whatever we can to pave the way,” Angarone said.

Contact Mike Davis at (609) 989-5708 or mdavis@njtimes.com.

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