Costco warehouse store gains OK in Marlboro Regal Cinemas will be demolished on Route 9 property BY VICTORIA HURLEY-SCHUBERT Staff Writer Shoppers will no longer have to drive to Freehold or Old Bridge to buy their bulk goods with the construction of a warehouse club at the Regal Cinemas site in Marlboro. A Costco membership shopping club received unanimous approval from the Marlboro Planning Board on May 2 and will be constructed in an existing shopping center near the corner of Route 9 north and Texas Road. "It seems like a good project for Marlboro," board Vice Chairman Gerald Bergh said before casting his vote. Costco has a contract to purchase the land for an undisclosed price, said attorney Sal Alfieri, of the firm Cleary, Alfieri, Jones and Hoyle, of Matawan. Costco still has approvals pending from other governmental agencies, including the state Department of Environ-mental Protection, said Alfieri, who represented the applicant. Marlboro Regal Cinemas is owned by Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal Entertainment Group, which had a net income of more than $86 million on more than $2.5 billion in revenues last year, and has 12 locations in New Jersey. The movie theaters will be demolished to make way for the Costco. Regal Entertainment Group did not return calls seeking comment. Costco will not be built in the footprint of the movie theaters. It will be constructed on a different portion of the site and the movie theater area will be used for parking. The application before the board was a conforming use for the site and only required minor variances for signs and the finish of the sidewalks. "They did a lot of work on this application and considered all possibilities," board member Mark Barenburg said. The 56-acre parcel extends into neighboring Old Bridge, whose Planning Board approved the plan in March, said Alfieri. The new 149,067-square-foot Costco will have a pharmacy, optical services, a tire department and liquor available to its customers in addition to regular merchandise. The liquor store will be operated by an independent operator because Costco has its limit of liquor licenses in New Jersey, said Alfieri. The sale of a plenary liquor license was approved by the Township Council at its April 26 meeting. The auction of the license is planned for July 11. Costco will be open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. A Costco gas station which will be open to the general public was included in the plan. The station will have six pumps that will allow 12 cars to pull up at once. No diesel fuel will be sold. The gas station will be open from 6 a.m. to one hour after the retail store closes. About 60 percent of the gas station customers will also be members of the warehouse club, said Christopher Hager, of Langan Engineering, Philadelphia. Route 9 north and Texas Road will both have improvements made as part of the Costco approval. The warehouse will not be allowed to open until the improvements are complete, said Dan Disario, a traffic engineer with Langan Engineering and Environmental Services. A widening project that is adding an extra lane on Route 9 north to Route 18 will be continued to Route 520. All improvements will be made on the median side of the highway and no restriping will be done on the curb side, he said. No improvements will be made to the existing Texas Road jughandle off Route 9 north, he added. Texas Road will be widened to accommodate left, straight and right turn lanes at the intersection of Route 9. A signal which already has state Department of Transportation approval will be installed at the driveway of the shopping center on Texas Road, said Disario. There is hope the new light may be hard-wired to the signal on Route 9 to ensure consistent timing of the two lights. There are "preliminary indications" this is in the DOT's plans, he said. The shopping center driveway on Texas Road will be expanded to accommodate two lanes of exiting traffic with one incoming lane. "Current improvements in place will be more than sufficient to support Costco and (The Shoppes at Old Bridge)," Disario said. No trucks will be permitted to make a right turn out of the shopping center onto Texas Road, said Disario, who mentioned that Costco has its distribution center on Possum Hollow Road in nearby Monroe Township. Costco trucks would automatically make a left turn upon exiting at Texas Road in order to return to the distribution center, he said. The existing commuter spaces in the shopping center would be unaffected by the project.