At the end of September, two dumpsters sat outside the former Rite Aid at 1000 Kings Highway while crews cleared out the old pharmacy. 42 Freeway reported that several readers had messaged asking what was coming, because people had noticed the activity.
On October 25, Westwood Golf Club's course-conditions page posted a frost delay: "COURSE OPENING AT 9:30AM." It was an ordinary fall morning at a course that has been zoned since August 2024 for up to 650 housing units.
The two sites show how change is moving through this part of West Deptford. How much you can see from the road has almost nothing to do with how big the change is. The project with dumpsters out front is a store swapping into an existing building. The quiet one, with golfers still teeing off, has the largest unit cap in the township's recent records. Four sites are worth following, and each one sits at a different stage of the same process.
Where Each Site Stands, Smallest to Largest
| Site | What's planned | Stage, per the latest public record | Date of that record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 Kings Highway | Aubuchon-operated Ace Hardware in the former Rite Aid | Interior cleanout and job postings, no opening date announced | September 27, 2026 |
| 950 Kings Highway | 45 condominium units in six buildings | Planning Board approval | April 22, 2025 |
| 402 Grove Avenue | 84-unit apartment community for seniors and veterans | Under construction, opening targeted for October 2026 | Groundbreaking October 30, 2025, construction reported December 2025 |
| Westwood Golf Club property | Up to 650 units, including 130 affordable | Rezoned, and the owners' attorney said at the hearing there was no developer or plan | August 21, 2024 |
Read from top to bottom, the table gets quieter as the projects get bigger.
The Old Rite Aid Is the Most Visible and the Most Contained
The 1000 Kings Highway building sits where Kings Highway, Parkville Road and Grove Road meet. Truist Bank, Dunkin, G's Liquor Gallery and Heritage's Dairy share that crossroads. The last big change at this intersection was Heritage's larger-format store at 999 Grove Road. In 2017, 42 Freeway described it as nearly twice the size of older Heritage's stores, with eight coffee urns, fresh vegetables and a bigger deli counter.
The strongest sign of what comes next at the old Rite Aid is a set of job postings. Aubuchon listed openings for a retail store leader, an assistant store leader and an experienced sales associate at a new West Deptford store, and an Ace Hardware location page appeared to be in development. Aubuchon is a Massachusetts company that has been in the hardware business since 1908. It describes itself as a fourth-generation family business with more than 100 stores. It already has a South Jersey store, Anco Ace Hardware in Villas, which it acquired in 2024 and which kept the Anco Ace name.
This crossroads has no Walmart or Target nearby for a quick household run, and the Home Depot on Route 45 is several minutes away. So a hardware store here would change a lot of weekend errands without changing the building at all. As of the September 27 report, no opening date had been announced.
950 Kings Highway Has an Approval and a Wetlands Line
A little farther along Kings Highway, the change is on paper and approved, but you can't see it yet. On April 22, 2025, the West Deptford Planning Board voted 6 to 0 to approve Russo Land Holding's application for a major subdivision and final site plan at 950 Kings Highway. The plan calls for removing the existing structures and building six 2.5-story condominium buildings.
The minutes include details that show what the site will look like:
- Lot size: 9.96 acres, just under the 10-acre minimum, with about 4.25 acres of regulated wetlands
- Buildings: three with nine units and three with six, for 45 units total
- Parking: a private garage for each unit, plus 23 public spaces on the street
- Access: a single entrance off Woodbury Swedesboro Road
- Road work: a proposal to widen the Kings Highway frontage to county standards
- Ownership: a board member noted the units would be privately owned, not rented
- Pending at the hearing: a DEP Letter of Interpretation for the wetlands
The wetlands figure explains a lot. Close to half the lot is regulated, which is why 45 units fit on nearly ten acres in clustered buildings with a single entrance. The applicant also asked for relief to provide four affordable units instead of 20 percent of the project. During public comment, neighbors raised Kings Highway's foot traffic and lack of sidewalks, tree removal, and how long construction would take. A representative of Kingswick Apartments at 968 Kings Highway asked about the township pump house, easements and a natural gas transmission line.
No demolition or sales activity has been publicly reported since the approval. An approval allows a project to move forward. It doesn't put a start date on the calendar.
Grove Avenue Is the Only Site With a Calendar
The Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans and Seniors Village at 402 Grove Avenue, near RiverWinds, is a step further along than either Kings Highway lot. WinnDevelopment and Soldier On marked the start of work on October 30, 2025. Winn's release says the 84 one- and two-bedroom apartments will serve veterans 55 and older. 42 Freeway described the four-story building's units differently, with 63 reserved for seniors at low and moderate income levels and 21 designated for veterans with physical or mental disabilities. The units are split into income tiers: 21 at or below 30 percent of area median income, 21 at or below 50 percent, and 42 at or below 60 percent.
By December 2025, 42 Freeway reported that construction was underway, with Winn Residential developing and Soldier On Veterans Village as co-applicant. The developer's October 2025 release set October 2026 as the opening target. This is the only project of the four with a published finish date. It also shows how a groundbreaking turns into a building you can see from the road in about a year.
Westwood Golf Club Has the Biggest Change and No Bulldozer
On August 21, 2024, the West Deptford Township Committee held the public hearing and adoption of Ordinance 2024-10. It added an "AH (Affordable Housing) Zone District" to the township code and applied it to the Westwood Golf Club property, Block 433 Lot 1, Block 355 Lot 1, and Block 363 Lots 2, 2.03, 3.03 and 4.01. The minutes state the purpose plainly:
"The site is being rezoned to allow for the construction of up to 650 units including 130 affordable housing units, which will assist the Township in addressing its Mount Laurel obligations."
The other three projects look small next to that. A 650-unit cap is more than fourteen times the 45 condos approved at 950 Kings Highway and more than seven times the 84 apartments on Grove Avenue. The 130 affordable units alone outnumber both of those projects.
The rest of the hearing record keeps that number in context. The township's affordable housing counsel noted that the site is privately owned and that the township has no control over the site or its sale. Rick Hoff, the attorney for the golf course owners, said there were no developers or plans at that point and that the ordinance was for zoning purposes only, to cap the number of units. During public comment, it was clarified that the golf course owners were considered the current developer. The same minutes list Resolution 2024-282, which authorized a developer agreement for an inclusionary project on the golf club site. The township's Planning Board page links its 2025 Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, the next round of these obligations.
So the largest housing number in this part of West Deptford comes from a zoning change. No public site plan has followed it, and the course is still holding morning tee times.
How to Tell Which Stage a Site Has Reached
Taken together, the public records for these four sites show the steps each one has passed through so far:
- Rezoning. At Westwood, the Township Committee adopted an ordinance capping the site at 650 units, and no site plan has been made public.
- Site plan approval. At 950 Kings Highway, the Planning Board approved a specific layout of buildings, parking and access.
- Outside review. The 950 Kings Highway minutes list a DEP Letter of Interpretation for the wetlands as pending at the time of approval.
- Construction. At 402 Grove Avenue, work started in October 2025.
- Opening. Grove Avenue's published target is October 2026.
A store reusing an existing building, like 1000 Kings Highway, skips most of this. That's why the most visible activity of the fall is happening at the site with the smallest footprint.
Projects like these touch zoning, affordability rules and permits. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice, so check the specifics of your own situation with the township or the right professional. If you live near one of these sites and want to talk through what an approved condo lot or a rezoned golf course might mean for your street, Pat Settar and our team follow these West Deptford agendas closely and are happy to go through them with you.
