Two new residences and more retail space going up in downtown Haddonfield

A corner property that’s been a gas station, a hobby shop, and a beloved bridal boutique is being reborn again at the crossroads of downtown Haddonfield.

A pair of two-level residences is under construction atop the distinctive single-story structure that together with an adjacent building housed Jay West Bridal for decades until it closed in 2022.

Depending on demand, the two 1,800-square-foot residential units either will be sold or rented, and the first floor will be remodeled into one or two retail spaces.

“We call it the Jay West project in honor of the bridal shop,” said Endrit “Andrew” Bodi, who owns the adjacent Verona and Pizza Pazza restaurants.

Bodi, 30, bought the Jay West property from Sue Maslowski, whose family owned the business for 54 years. As neighboring proprietors of family-owned businesses, they became good friends, he said.

“We love the community, and we want to keep the character of the community,” said Bodi, who opened Verona seven years ago. “We’re putting in trees, lighting, and sidewalks. We’ve done everything the town has asked us to do, and these are regulations have helped keep it a beautiful town.”

Said project architect Thomas B. Wagner: “It’s such an important [location], and the first floor has that stylish rounded corner. I wanted that to stay, and I wanted the new building to respond to that kind of style.”

Long stereotyped as home to blue bloods, blue laws, and blue hair, with a downtown rich in history but short on energy, Haddonfield in the last 25 years has emerged as a lively regional destination. The borough is home to about 12,500 people in its 2.8 square miles, and the notion of adding residential density downtown is generally acceptable to many in the community.

The borough, while still technically “dry,” does have some alcoholic beverage options available.

“I see the [Jay West project] as a positive in the direction the town has been going,” said Bob Hochgertel owner and manager of King’s Road Brewing Co., which opened on Kings Highway in 2017. “The store was an institution in town, and I’m confident Andy will bring in something relevant to the town as far as retail is concerned.”

On Haddonfield United, a Facebook page with more than 33,000 subscribers, the disagreements over whether the development will help or hurt downtown have been nuanced.

Many comments favored increasing the number of residents in the business district, while others were concerned that downtown’s charm is eroding “one renovation [and] demolition at a time,” in the words of one. And many worried about parking.

Bodi said his businesses would have five off-site parking spots. He expects more spaces will become available after construction is completed next year.

Said longtime resident and publisher David Hunter: “A lot of people have trouble with what’s happening downtown, and they want Haddonfield to stay the way it was.”

But “Haddonfield never was the way it was” in the minds of some, he said.

Sue Maslowski remembers her parents, Stan and Norma, founding Jay West in 1976.

“I was probably 8 when I started helping out in the store,” said Maslowski, who’s 65 and lives in Haddonfield. “We had 3,200 square feet of space and sold 1,000 prom dresses a year. It was chaos.”

Before online prom-shopping became common, Jay West offered a trained staff who knew the dresses and the customers and were able to expertly match the two.

“Back then, you went prom-shopping with your mom,” Maslowski said.

Haddonfield Mayor Colleen Bianco Bezich was one of them.

“It was the place for young women and their moms or grandmoms to shop,” she said. “There’s something about that experience of dress shopping — it’s like a rite of passage.”

Supporters of the project noted that any number of commercial buildings along Kings Highway and Haddon Avenue have upstairs apartments.

Hunter has done research into the number and location of gas stations, car dealers, and other auto-oriented businesses once stood in and around downtown Haddonfield. At one time, three gas stations operated at the intersection of Haddon Avenue and Kings Highway.

“Imagine what the traffic would be like [now],” Bianco Bezich said.

“If you want your local economy to have foot traffic and to thrive, then putting residents above businesses is a way to get there,” she said.

Local ownership also is plus.

“I did talk to other people as far as selling the Jay West building, but I know the integrity of Andrew and his family and the love they have for the building,” Maslowski said.

“The building will always be a big part of my life, and with Andrew talking it over, the love for the building will continue.”