Regency Centers is rolling out a fresh wave of grocery-anchored projects across the Northeast, pulling in Whole Foods and other national retail names in Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey suburbs. The pipeline ranges from newly opened and upcoming Whole Foods locations to ground-up developments and older centers that are being acquired and remade as daily-needs hubs. For local shoppers, it adds up to more one-stop destinations and a new crop of restaurant and apparel options in the suburbs.
Whole Foods Opens At The Shops At SunVet In Holbrook
Whole Foods opened its 43,000-square-foot Holbrook store at The Shops at SunVet on March 5, 2026, giving the Long Island redevelopment its grocery anchor and community draw, according to Whole Foods Market. The center has been filling in national tenants and quick-service restaurants, and Shake Shack announced an April opening that local coverage says will add late-night and takeout traffic, per Patch. Developers and local reporting continue to position the SunVet project as a mixed shopping and services hub aimed at everyday convenience for Holbrook and nearby communities.
Regency Renames Mount Sinai Center And Plans Whole Foods Anchor
Regency’s January acquisition of the Mount Sinai Shopping Center set the stage for a comprehensive repositioning. The company renamed the property Crystal Brook Corner and said it will install a Whole Foods anchor while beginning façade and parking upgrades, according to a company post. “The acquisition of this center allows us to apply Regency’s long-term ownership and operating expertise to a property with exceptional fundamentals,” Vice President of Investments Becca Wing said in the announcement. Regency frames the work as a remerchandising effort to turn a familiar local strip into a daily-needs destination for the Port Jefferson trade area.
Stone Bridge Brings Whole Foods And National Chains To Cheshire
The Shops at Stone Bridge in Cheshire is a ground-up retail development anchored by Whole Foods, which opened its Cheshire store on Feb. 5, 2026, according to the Hartford Business Journal. The project is part of the larger Stone Bridge Crossing mixed-use plan and is reported to be largely leased to national tenants such as TJ Maxx, Barnes & Noble, Sephora and Shake Shack. Local outlets say the center is intended to capture both weekday convenience trips and weekend destination shopping, the classic suburban double play.
Glenwood Green Completes Old Bridge Lineup With Target And ShopRite
In Old Bridge, N.J., Glenwood Green has come together as a Target- and ShopRite-anchored destination that mixes big-box anchors with restaurants and neighborhood services. Local reporting and leasing materials list tenants including Shake Shack, Paris Baguette, Honeygrow, Wawa and a range of personal-service concepts, reflecting a broad merchant mix aimed at daily traffic, per coverage of the project. The development replaces vacant parcels along Route 9 and is being marketed as a regional draw for surrounding communities.
Why Grocery Anchors Still Drive Suburban Retail
Industry coverage and trade analysis show grocery anchors remain the most reliable traffic drivers for suburban centers, helping support restaurants and specialty retailers across economic cycles, according to Nareit. Trade press covering Long Island and other markets has highlighted how grocery-anchored redevelopments are being used to stabilize center performance, per ShoppingCenterBusiness. That resilience helps explain why owners such as Regency keep funding grocery-first redevelopment and ground-up projects aimed at steady net operating income.
What This Means Locally
The New York Business Journal packaged these updates in a roundup on April 17, 2026, and covered the company’s Northeast moves in a piece that appeared under the Business Journals banner. Jack deVilliers, Regency’s Managing Director of Operations, oversees roughly 150 properties totaling more than 16 million square feet and generating north of $200 million in annual net operating income, per his company bio. For shoppers and nearby merchants, the wave of openings and redevelopments will be the clearest signal yet of which suburban centers are being repositioned for the next decade.
