[1][3] It faced stiff competition from the more upscale Monmouth Mall, located five miles (8 km) further north on Route 35 in Eatontown.

The mall's past history can be traced back to the 1950s, when Sears relocated its Downtown Asbury Park store to a more suburban site on Route 66 at the site of the present-day Neptune World Class Shoprite, just west of the Asbury Circle.

Sterns subsequently moved to the vacant space, but continued to operate the Seaview Square store as half-store and half-clearance center until their lease ran out in 1999.

In September 2012, Wharton Realty Group purchased the mall and renamed it the Seaview Square Shopping Center.

A wave of new tenants soon filled most of the empty space of the old mall including Guitar Center, A.C. Moore, Big Lots, Burlington Coat Factory, Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park, Costco, PetSmart and a Target among others.

In 2019 Wharton announced an additional expansion to include Marshalls and Home Goods bringing the center's occupancy to over 98%.