The grass lot next to ShopRite of Center Square Plaza has been sitting there since the store opened in June 2023. No signage, no construction fencing, just a mowed patch of green between the parking lot and Auburn Road that most people driving past probably stopped noticing months ago.
That lot is about to get busy. Woolwich Township's Committee recently approved resolutions designating McDonald's and AutoZone as redevelopers for the property, the first formal step toward putting two new businesses on that corner. If you shop at this ShopRite, or you drive past it on Auburn Road most weeks, here's what's actually happening, what it means for the corner you already know, and how long this kind of project tends to take in Woolwich.
What The Township Actually Approved
The land in question sits inside the Weatherby Redevelopment Area, the same planning zone that produced the ShopRite itself. The two projects are laid out as separate buildings. McDonald's would sit closest to Franklin Bank, with ShopRite's main access road running between the two properties. AutoZone would be positioned next to McDonald's, at the corner of Auburn Road and Copper Road.
What got approved is not a construction permit. It's a redeveloper designation, which under New Jersey's redevelopment law gives McDonald's and AutoZone the standing to move forward with site plans inside a zone the township has already earmarked for this kind of use. The designations are effective for 60 days, with the possibility of a 60-day extension, and further extensions if the Township Committee acts to grant them. The next real milestone is a hearing before Woolwich's Joint Land Use Board, expected sometime later this year. No date has been announced yet.
The Part Most Residents Will Miss
Here's the detail that matters more than the store names. Neither McDonald's nor AutoZone is getting a direct driveway onto Auburn Road. Based on the site plan, cars will reach both businesses through the existing ShopRite entrance road, the same signalized access point shoppers already use. A second connection is planned linking McDonald's and AutoZone directly to each other behind the buildings.
This isn't an accident of geography. The curbing and sidewalks needed to support this kind of access are already in place at the site, built when ShopRite's lot was originally graded. The plan also adds a new connection from Copper Road into the ShopRite property, extending in the direction of the Eagle View Trail apartments.
If you've ever sat at a light waiting to turn into a shopping center that has three or four separate curb cuts fighting for the same lane, you know why this matters. Woolwich is routing two new drive-thru-heavy businesses through one signal instead of adding new ones. That's a traffic management choice, and it tells you something about how the township is handling growth at this particular intersection rather than letting each new tenant cut its own entrance.
This Corner Was Never Really Empty
It's easy to read "McDonald's and AutoZone are coming to Woolwich" as news that a commercial district is being built from scratch. It isn't. This stretch of Center Square and Auburn Roads has been functioning as an informal town center for a few years already:
- ShopRite of Center Square Plaza anchors the corner itself, a 78,000-square-foot store that replaced the ShopRite of Gibbstown when it opened in June 2023.
- Center Square Tavern sits about a block west, inside the older Woolwich Center cluster.
- Swedesboro Diner and Swedes Plaza, home to Swedesboro Brewing, sit just to the east.
- The Woolwich Municipal building is also within easy walking distance of the plaza.
Adding McDonald's and AutoZone doesn't create a new commercial hub. It fills in a corner of one that Woolwich has been assembling since the Weatherby Redevelopment Area was first designated in 2018. If you've watched this intersection go from a single grocery store to a small cluster of dining and services over the past three years, this is the next piece landing in a spot the township already zoned for it.
How Long This Actually Takes
If you want a realistic sense of timing, the ShopRite next door is the best comparison available, because it went through the same process on the same parcel.
Woolwich designated this property for redevelopment in 2018 and adopted a formal redevelopment plan that October. Construction didn't finish until early 2023, and the store held its grand opening that June. Start to finish, roughly five years passed between the redevelopment designation and the day shoppers walked through the doors.
McDonald's and AutoZone are only now receiving their redeveloper designations, with Joint Land Use Board hearings still ahead and no scheduled date. Based on how the ShopRite project moved, a reasonable expectation is months of site plan review and hearings before any ground gets broken, not weeks. If you're picturing a drive-thru open by next summer, the township's own recent history on this exact lot suggests otherwise.
What To Watch For Next
The next concrete milestone is the Joint Land Use Board hearing. Woolwich posts its public notices and meeting agendas on the township's website, so anyone who wants to track when McDonald's and AutoZone come up for review can check there directly rather than relying on secondhand updates. Until a hearing is scheduled, the practical status of this project is exactly where it sits today: designated, not yet approved for construction, and routed through an access plan that keeps traffic concentrated at the signal already controlling ShopRite's lot.
Woolwich has grown fast for a long time. Between 2000 and 2010, it was the fastest-growing township in both Gloucester County and New Jersey, and the growth kept going after that, with the population climbing from 10,200 at the 2010 census to 12,577 by 2020. A lot of that growth has landed inside planned zones like Weatherby, which is exactly why a McDonald's and an AutoZone showing up here reads less like sprawl and more like the township finishing a corner it started building years ago.
If you live near Center Square Plaza, the short version is this: two familiar names are moving toward a lot you already drive past, they'll likely share ShopRite's entrance rather than cutting new curbs onto Auburn Road, and based on how long the store next door took, patience is the more useful posture than expectation.
For anyone thinking further ahead about what corners like this mean for property values, commute patterns, or where Woolwich's next planned growth might land, our guide to Woolwich Township's neighborhoods and local amenities breaks down how areas like Weatherby, Kings Landing, and Auburn Road Village fit together. And if you're weighing a move in or around Woolwich, Haley De Stefano can walk you through what a specific block or development pattern actually means for your search, starting with an instant home valuation or a neighborhood consultation whenever you're ready.
