Three New Businesses at The Hills' Village Center

Two new tenants, a preschool and a learning center, recently moved into the Highlands Village Center in The Hills, and a fitness training center for women is anticipated to open around January, Coldwell Banker Commercial Feist & Feist Realty Corp. has announced.

Tiny Turtle Academy and Kumon Learning Center both already opened early this fall, said Peter Wisniewski, executive vice president of the commercial realty corp. in Basking Ridge, which is the leasing agent for available spaces at the Highlands Village at Liberty Corner.

The lease for Get in Shape for Women, a national franchise, has been finalized, and that fitness training center is expected to move in around the beginning of 2012, Wisniewski said on Friday.

The 60,000 square foot center is off Allen Road in The Hills section of Basking Ridge. Two spaces remain at the center, the largest being most of space formerly occupied by McGrath's Paint & Hardware, he said.

Wisniewski negotiated the lease with Tiny Turtle Academy — which opened in time to offer programs this fall — for a 10,500 square foot freestanding building, according to an announcement from the company. The preschool building houses an early-educational center for six weeks to eight years of age.

Wisniewski said Tiny Turtle Academy offers a first-of-its-kind program that offers each age group its own curriculum specifically designed to meet their needs. Children are provided with proven educational programs, opportunities and stimulating experiences, which foster growth and development, he said.

The state-of-the-art childhood center also has "gone green," promoting environmentally friendly living, teaching and learning in a building designed to be free of toxins and harmful chemicals.

Another educational center, Kumon Learning Centers has chosen to locate its worldwide afterschool math and reading enrichment program within a 1,060 square feet space within the center, Wisniewski said. That facility also opened in time for the current school year.

"Kumon programs allow student of all ages and abilities to develop the skills necessary to have a richer, more successful educational experience," Wisniewski said of the new tenants. "They gain confidence and motivation to learn, accomplish and achieve more on their own," he said.

Wisniewski said that Get in Shape for Women "offers small group personal training, one to four women at a time, in a private upscale studio. Weight, cardio and nutrition coaching round out the completed balanced fitness program," Wisniewski said.

Highlands Village at Liberty Corner is adjacent to the Mount Prospect Elementary School, a nationally ranked public school, located on Allen Road in "The Hills," a master planned community.

Prior to the arrival of the new tenants, the shopping center already featured a variety of tenants including Rite Aid Pharmacy, Fulton Bank, Chu's Cafe restaurant, Village of Highlands Cleaners, Dunkin Donuts, Fresh restaurant, Veneto Gourmet Deli & Pizza, Kaleidoscope Hair & Body Artistry, The Wine Rack, Anson Chiropractic & Wellness Center, Dental Arts Visions and the U.S. Post Office.

Wisniewski said two spaces remain to be leased, one for 1,565 sq. ft. and the other for the hardware store's former spot, with 7,250 square feet that are divisible into smaller spaces of 3,250 square feet and 4,000 square feet.

He said on Friday that discussions are taking place with other service businesses to be tenants in those spaces. He said the center had previously arranged for a high-end "doggie daycare center" to fill the larger space, but the township informed him that Bernards would consider that center to be a dog kennel, a use not permitted in that location.

Coldwell Banker Commercial Feist & Feist Realty Corp. is at 180 Mt. Airy Road in Basking Ridge.