The owners of Westfield Garden State Plaza have a grand vision to transform the region’s largest shopping center into something Paramus has never seen: a brand-new downtown, equipped with a luxury, mixed-use residential development where mall-lovers can live a stone’s throw from their favorite stores.

Mall officials revealed in an exclusive interview with NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey their long-anticipated renovation plans, which begin with re-purposing three large vacant spaces at the mall to accommodate an estimated 20 new retail tenants.

Eventually, officials hope to transform a chunk of their parking lot to include a mixed-use residential complex, a public park with a restored Sprout Brook, a seasonal hockey rink, and possibly an upscale hotel.

“It’s really something that we’ve had on our mind for a long time here — to figure out: How do we implement a town green on the site?” said Stephen Fluhr, vice president of development at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which operates the mall. “This is even better, because it’s in this mixed-use environment that we can introduce multi-family living here.”

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The project right now is in its planning phases, Fluhr said. Mall officials anticipate unveiling their proposal in detail by early 2020. At that time, officials said, they hope for a public review process in which residents can provide feedback.

The first phase will begin within the next month or two, and includes re-purposing of three spaces once occupied by J.C. Penney, Uniqlo and the freestanding building that once housed Best Buy. The J.C. Penney space will be reconstructed to appear as if it had never been a large department store, Fluhr said.

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“It’s going to be all individual stores,” he said. “Probably a couple of mini anchors and then the rest will all just be small shops, 12 to 15, depending on the final cuts.”

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One of the biggest changes, however, is the plan to create 3 acres of green space on the mall's property. The green space will connect the mall to the residential building that will be built on an under-used parking lot closest to Paramus Road. To make up for the parking spots lost to that project, officials will expand one of the mall's parking decks.

Paramus, at the crossroads of Bergen County, lacks a downtown. However, elected officials three years ago adopted new zoning laws that made it possible to build mixed-use residential developments along the borough’s commercial corridors, Routes 4 and 17. The purpose was twofold, Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said: to give businesses the tools to remain relevant in a changing retail market, and to help meet a looming affordable-housing obligation.

“Those two factors together made it very appropriate to provide what the market was desiring, which was mixed-use,” said LaBarbiera, a developer by trade. “It was a pretty simple fit.”

The borough has slowly reaped the benefits of its new laws. Last month, a 45-unit luxury mixed-used apartment complex opened near Paramus Park mall. It was the first development to take advantage of Paramus’ new zoning laws. Garden State Plaza could be the second.

“We’re happy to see investment in our community,” LaBarbiera said. “It was a few years ago people were worried about the impact of online shopping and American Dream [in the Meadowlands], and to the contrary, instead of going backward, we’re going forward, and it sounds like the Plaza is going to be taking a huge leap.”

The redevelopment plans come on the heels of a recent two-year transformation project undertaken by the Plaza that included an interior remodeling, new roofs, some behind-the-scenes improvements with boilers and chillers, and $20 million worth of technology upgrades, Fluhr said. The changes were completed around the holiday season, when the mall brought back Big Santa, a favorite for locals until the early 1980s, when the once-open-air mall was converted to an enclosed one.

The upgrades prepared the mall for its upcoming makeover, which has been in the planning stage for three years. Fluhr said he was brought onboard for the renovation plan when zoning changes were approved in Paramus in 2016.

"It was really the zoning that codified and allowed us the certainty internally to commit the resources it takes to get to this point," Fluhr he said. "You have to expend pretty significant resources in all of the planning that you get to the point that you’re comfortable moving forward."

Officials anticipate that changes to the former J.C. Penney, Uniqlo and Best Buy spaces will be complete by the end of 2020. They estimate the residential complex will be done by 2022.

Specifics for the proposal, including the location of the proposed upscale hotel, are not clear. What kind of new retail tenants the proposal will attract is yet to be determined. Officials said the project will include improving traffic flow and parking. Mall owners said they have been in talks with NJ Transit to prevent impact to their routes by the project, Fluhr said.

The Plaza would not be the first mall to mix residential with retail in such a profound way.

Fluhr pointed to Tysons Corner Center in Northern Virginia as a model for what the future of Westfield Garden State Plaza could look like. In Paramus, LaBarbiera mentioned other malls that could eventually follow suit, including The Outlets at Bergen Town Center or even Paramus Park.

Fluhr, who has been working on mall development projects for nearly two decades, said malls enjoy either a long life or a short one. What is important, he said, is that retail centers like the Plaza evolve. Otherwise, a mall won't survive.

"This property has done an amazing job at evolving over time, and this is sort of the next chapter," Fluhr said of the 62-year-old mall.