The Mills at Jersey Gardens facts for kids
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| Location | 651 Kapkowski Road Elizabeth, NJ 07201 United States |
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| Opening date | October 21, 1999 |
| Developer | Glimcher Realty Trust |
| Owner | Simon Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 230 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,292,611 square feet (120,087.5 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Public transit access |   NJ Transit bus: 24, 40, 111, 115 |
| Website | http://www.jerseygardens.com |
The Mills at Jersey Gardens, often called Jersey Gardens, is a large indoor shopping mall. It has two floors and is located in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The mall opened on October 21, 1999.
It is the biggest outlet mall in New Jersey. It is also much closer to New York City than other large outlet malls.
A company called Glimcher Realty Trust built the mall. They owned and managed it until 2015. Then, another company, Simon Property Group, bought it. Simon Property Group also owns many other outlet malls. They renamed it "The Mills at Jersey Gardens."
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Mall History and Location
The mall was built on land that used to be a landfill. This land had to be cleaned up before construction could start. Plans for the huge mall were announced in 1998.
The mall's location is very convenient. It is close to the New Jersey Turnpike. It is also near Newark Liberty International Airport. The mall is only about 30 minutes from Midtown Manhattan.
Shopping Benefits at Jersey Gardens
Jersey Gardens is in a special area called an "Urban Enterprise Zone." This means that shoppers pay a lower sales tax. The sales tax rate is about 3.3125% on most items. This is much lower than the sales tax in New York City.
However, some items, like food and drinks, have an extra city fee. This fee adds 3% to the cost.
Mall Size and Stores
The mall is very large, covering over 1.2 million square feet. This makes it one of the biggest shopping malls in New Jersey. It has about 230 different stores and restaurants.
You can get to the mall by bus. The NJ Transit 111 bus route goes directly to Jersey Gardens. This bus travels between the mall and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
Easy Access for Drivers
A special exit was built from the New Jersey Turnpike directly to the mall. This means drivers can go straight to the mall. They do not have to drive through local streets in Elizabeth.
The company that built the mall paid for this special exit. It cost about $130 million. They paid for it through property tax payments.
Recent Changes
One of the mall's stores, Century 21, closed in October 2020. This happened after the department store company filed for bankruptcy.
