Thursday marked a new beginning for the site of the former Monmouth Mall in Eatontown as the Kushner family moves forward with their new open-air town center and residential marketplace.

A groundbreaking took place Thursday morning. The site will be known as Monmouth Square. It will be a living and shopping community with 1,000 retail spaces.

Demolition will soon begin on the old Lord & Taylor and JCPenney buildings to make room for the new anchor store, which is Whole Foods.

"We are taking 1.5 million square feet, demolishing 600,000 square feet, leaving 900,000 square feet and essentially turning an enclosed mall inside out and making it an open-air experience,” says Kushner CDO Michael Sommer.

"This was like many malls in America - a dinosaur not heading in the right direction. It was depleting revenue and therefore depleting tax revenues for local governments and state,” says Kushner CEO Laurent Morali.

The AMC movie theater, Macy’s and Boscov’s will remain open during construction.

The new plans call for a fitness center, clubhouse, spa, juice bar, sports courts and open-air green space.