TOWN CENTER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Montclair, NJ
The Township of Montclair, NJ is a fairly affluent bedroom community located approximately 12 miles from Midtown Manhattan. The Montclair Economic Development Corporation retained Urban Partners to create a vision and development strategy to increase retail, commercial and residential development and investment in Montclair Town Center. Developed as a long linear commercial district during the trolley car era, this district now faces the challenge of evolving into a vibrant commercial and civic Town Center for Montclair and its residents.
The strategy was developed in conjunction with the Town Center Development Strategy Steering Committee, a group that broadly represents various neighborhood and organizational interests in Montclair, and followed a thorough analysis of the physical and economic conditions of the
Town Center and significant input from individuals and organizations with interests in the Town Center area. The development strategy addresses key community concerns regarding the expansion of retailing in the Town Center and improving the availability and management of parking
while emphasizing as a major theme the development
of the Town Center as an arts, cultural and entertainment district. As a secondary and complementary theme, the Town Center Development Strategy calls for the development and expansion of the Town Center’s shopping goods retailing.
Urban Partners assisted MEDC develop detailed implementation approaches and the community has moved forward with many major elements of the plan. The Township has awarded the Town Center historic district designation, has faciliated the construction of a mixed-use retail/
residential structure on the site of a long-vacant department store and successfully financed and constructed a much-needed structured parking facility on the site of a former surface lot.
