Rumors have been swirling for a week, and now the signs are up at the Mall at Short Hills. The Cheesecake Factory will be opening there later this year.

Leslie Trifone, mall spokeswoman, said the Cheesecake Factory will be opening in the area where Johnny Rockets was located in either spring or summer of this year.

"We are delighted to welcome The Cheesecake Factory to The Mall at Short
Hills this summer,” mall general manager Michael McAvinue said in a statement.. "This restaurant has long been requested by our customers and tenants and we know it will be a wonderful addition to our already exceptional restaurant offering."

Johnny Rockets recently closed, and minor changes will be made before the new restaurant is to open. Trifone said they are looking for a new location for Johnny Rockets at the mall, but no decision has been made yet.

Alethea Rowe, a Cheesecake Factory spokeswoman, confirmed via e-mail the restaurant would be opening at the mall later this year. She did not have a specific date when the restaurant planned to open, but said it would happen during the summer. Additionally, she said the new restaurant "will offer the same great food and service in Short Hills that The Cheesecake Factory is known for nationwide."

The Cheesecake Factory already is advertising for a kitchen manager and restaurant manager on its website, but it doesn't have the Short Hills restaurant listed on its "planned locations" section yet.

The California-based chain of restaurants is mostly known for its wide selection of cheesecakes, but it also boasts on its website of having more than 200 menu items.

It opened its first restaurant in 1978 in Beverly Hills, Calif. and has 150 locations across the country. The Short Hills location would be the seventh in New Jersey with other locations that include the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne and at Bridgewater Commons in Bridgewater.