Procida acquires former Garden State Park racetrack project (updated)

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Commercial real estate lender Procida Funding and Advisors has acquired Plaza Grande, the remaining phase at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, the Englewood Cliffs firm announced Aug. 7. 

Located at Haddonfield Road and Chapel Avenue, Plaza Grande marks the final phase of the billion-dollar redevelopment of the former Garden State Park racetrack.

National homebuilder D.R. Horton bought the 33-acre site in the early 2000s and began construction on the project in 2004, but faced setbacks during the 2008 recession. An affiliate of Pennsylvania-based Tristate Ventures, financed by Procida, took over the site in 2014 and completed 224 units in the 55-and-older community. 

Procida acquired the property in July and is completing the remaining 283 units, the firm said. 

The community will feature one- and two-bedroom luxury residences, with rental rates starting at $2,300. The site will include more than 18,000 square feet of indoor amenities and extensive outdoor amenities tailored to the 55-plus community. 

Garden State Park is located near retailers and restaurants such as Home Goods, The Home Depot, Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, TJ Maxx and The Cheesecake Factory.  

“It’s an amazing location with the best clubhouse anywhere with indoor and outdoor saltwater pools, club rooms, gym, yoga studio, movie theater, and a soon to be included golf simulator room, and you can walk to everything you need,” Procida founder and CEO Billy Procida said in a statement.

While a Procida representative did not provide an exact investment amount for the complete redevelopment, he said the billion-dollar estimate “is roughly the total development/investment of the former racetrack grounds by all developers involved (including all the retail, grocery, entertainment, restaurants, etc., which also includes Plaza Grande).”

Editor’s note: This story was updated to remove an estimated delivery date.