UPDATE: To clarify questions from comments by readers, The MC Montclair Hotel will still be part of the Marriott Autograph Collection but will be managed by the Aparium Hotel Group.
Pinnacle Companies announced this week it will partner with Hampshire Companies, a full-service, private real estate investment firm, to develop The MC Montclair Hotel in Montclair. The 148-room luxury boutique hotel, to be located at the intersection of Bloomfield Avenue and Orange Road, will include a rooftop bar, farm-to-table restaurant, conference center and a public art atrium.
The Hampshire/Pinnacle team will submit final construction plans in March, with an anticipated spring groundbreaking.
In addition, Pinnacle announced that the Chicago-based Aparium Hotel Group will manage the hotel.
“We have a great deal of passion for the history and culture of Montclair,” said Kevin Robinson, COO and Managing Partner of Aparium Hotel Group. “Our approach to the positioning and management of The MC hotel will be consistent with our ‘trans-local’ hospitality concept, in which we will create an environment that becomes a destination sought out by travelers and a favorite place for locals.”
According to the developers, the hotel will have 148 rooms and suites. Features will include a covered porte-cochere entryway with valet parking, a lobby library and market, a farm-to-table restaurant, event space, meeting rooms and fitness center. An express elevator will take visitors up to a rooftop bar offering views of Manhattan to the east and the Eagle Rock Reservation to the west. The project also includes corporate offices within the building.
Aparium’s Executive Culinary Director Suzy Crofton, a Michelin-star chef, will lead The MC’s food and beverage program, which will include multiple venues including a lobby market, full service restaurant, ground level bar and a rooftop bar. Each outlet will source its product from and collaborate with regional farmers and purveyors, local breweries, coffee roasters and spirit makers.
The hotel’s public atrium will provide a forum for art and cultural exhibitions, an aspect that Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is happy about.
“We couldn’t be more pleased that the public atrium of the hotel will provide a forum for art and related activities, underscoring Montclair’s reputation as a destination for art and culture,” said Lora Urbanelli, Director of MAM.
“MAM is very hopeful and excited about the entire CentroVerde project—which includes the Valley & Bloom mixed-use development and The MC hotel—we’re thrilled about its potential for attracting visitors to the town and of course to the museum. Moreover, the project will help not only with the revival of this area but also with connecting the western entrance of town to the shops and restaurants in Montclair’s central business district,” continued Urbanelli.
The developers say the MC Montclair hotel development team is working with the community to develop a wide range of cultural activities for the rooftop bar area, such as morning yoga, programs with Jazz House Kids and the Montclair Film Festival.
(Photos: renderings from the MC Montclair Facebook page)
Is the toilet seat roof back? I thought it flushed from the design?
WTF? Another hotel. What’s next, renaming Montclair, Pottersville?
The view from the rooftop bar looks idyllic, but is it real ?
Actually, jqp, most of the view to the east will feature other Pinnacle buildings. Nothing like kicking back with a martini and admiring a roof top fan unit.
I hear they sound just like crickets in the summer.
Don’t forget the constant stream of 18-wheelers navigating Orange Road to make the deliveries a hotel requires. We can add those to the ones servicing DD and Starbucks.
Good point, justsaying. Perhaps the roof top lounge can also offer an oxygen bar.
What happened with Marriot? Wasn’t that the reason for accepting its out of scale height?
“Is the toilet seat roof back? I thought it flushed from the design?”
—why am I surprised that reddum specializes in toilet humor?
“WTF? Another hotel”
—no, but who are we to get in the way of your delusions?
“The view from the rooftop bar looks idyllic, but is it real?”
—um, it’s a drawing…
“most of the view to the east will feature other Pinnacle buildings”
—a grotesque, over-emotionalized response—not enough of that here—thanks!
“What happened with Marriot? Wasn’t that the reason for accepting its out of scale height?”
—oy. some “expert”…
still, keep it up, children! your on-line caterwauling and whining is really making a difference here! see you at the groundbreaking!
As per: https://montclairlocal.net/2014/06/grand-debut-grand-hotel-montclairs-mc-hotel-design-unveiled-planning-board-meeting/
It was originally a Marriott but they must have pulled out of the deal at some point. Aparium, from what I can quickly Google – is a Chicago based boutique hotel chain. They seem to typically deal in converting older/historical structures into modern boutique hotels and this is, from what I can find, their first “ground up,” hotel. They seem to have an eye on preserving historical features so I’m curious to see what changes they make to the plans.
From their site: https://www.aparium.com/properties/the-iron-horse-hotel/
I live downtown and I’m excited about this development. Finally, a nice place to go for a drink. Also, every 3 years I host Thanksgiving and the relatives who stay in a hotel will have a nearby place. I can’t wait.
frankgg, you are right. folks this is a change from what we were told before. Yes it is set in PR talk and bravado but……….. I guess I don’t understand because like frankgg, the size of the hotel was being mandated by the other development team that doesn’t exist now. We were told the size was due to them and if we didn’t build it this size they would not work on the site. Well, well!!! Lets make Pinnacle do some clarification here and quickly.
Townspeople…. time for serious due dilligence
see above and link
UPDATE: To clarify questions from comments by readers, The MC Montclair Hotel will still be part of the Marriott Autograph Collection but will be managed by the Aparium Hotel Group.
I hope the HMA agreement is not governed under Maryland law.
Thank you Liz… That makes more sense… and positive because of their historic building background… Grazie
I too am excited for this project despite the 10 people in town who post here to the contrary and seem to know what’s best for Montclair and me. I also enjoy walking around the shops in the Sienna better than looking at the burnt out building that was there for a decade prior. I also will enjoy all that Valley and bloom brings to the block better than driving by a car dealership. I also will enjoy eating at the restaurant and rooftop bar and having a place for my family to stay in town when they visit better than vacant asphalt lot that was there. In five years, when Lackawanna plaza is raised by Pinnacle as well and converted into the vibrant public space that is should be I will enjoy that more than the 500 car parking lot and radio shack and popeyes that is there now. So will about 95% of Montclair residents. The other 5% can rationalize when they would rather keep these dead spaces unoccupied because of the brick hue and that it is being done by a big development company rather than local artisans….
Well, parkour, you must be one of the 10 people in town who actually know Lackawanna has, indeed, more than 500 total parking spaces. How did you come by that obscure tidbit of information?
Frank,
I actually just took a rough estimate but I just used google maps to zoom in and count and the more accurate number is about 402. Years of driving by reveals that there are never more than 1/4 of them being used at any given time. Just like any other building code driven parking requirements. A tragic waste of space and a deathblow to any streetscape. The truth will always prevail…cater to the car and the built environment suffers incredibly. So I will adjust my statement accordingly. I would rather have the vibrant space that a raised and new public space at Lackawanna will provide rather than the 402 parking spaces that are there.
I’m all for taking another stab at redeveloping Lackawanna again. It will be the new town center in a couple of decades if done right. But, I don’t buy into the better than it was bar. That’s what screwed up the first attempt…which was low density. This one is going for mega density and therefore the stakes are much higher.
Anyway, back to the hotel. If Aparian brings what they accomplished with the old mattress factory that is now the Iron Horse in Milwaukee, the MC will be better than any hotel in Suburban Essex, if not all of Northern Jersey. It certainly is the best in Milwaukee. It may be on the pricey side for our locale, but that’s what we wanted. That said, Marriott may hold all the cards if the HMA is governed under Maryland law…and their tenure could be tenuous.
parkour, I love this sort of anti-curmudgion, anti-luddite role that you’ve made up for yourself. It fits so well with the running theme that the opinions here critical of development must surely only represent a minority of views, despite evidence otherwise.
I would be excited about downtown re development if they could get the scale right. I look at the new building on Valley and imagine how nice it could possibly be if it were only two stories lower. I would actually like those buildings and think they’re fine. Its not the developer’s fault. its just poor re development planning. For all of the “10 people” that are upset and commenting here… there are hundreds of others behind us. We can soon prove this with a public survey from residents…. especially those from the Montclair Center. Personally my passion and attention is for Montclair’s irreplacable housing stock and I feel that the Downtown re development should re inforce their value instead of harming it. If you look at the Nolen Report’s vision for Montclair’s town center…. the skyline is dotted with tall spires… I would even love it if there were tall glass and concrete towers like in the lower east side. That would look so spectaculate with the backdrop of the mountain and the NYC Skyline. My classmates at Cooper Union are the designers of the Highline Project in NYC…. and I would love it if they could do a concept like that to tie together Montclair Center for pedestrians (and even cyclists). We need good intellegent projects… not big invasive building blocks.
In case there was still 5% of Baristanet readers out there who weren’t convinced parkour was a paid Pinnacle shill, I’m pretty sure his intimate knowledge of Lackawana Plaza parking lot spaces should seal the deal for them also. I mean, come on buddy.
tsmith, I hesitate to speculate since I’ve been on the other end of that kind of accusation. I will say I’d be curious to hear parkour’s thoughts on other issues in Montclair since his comments seem to be limited to stories about building stuff.
Parkour’s comment was perfect. And, predictably, the usual suspects have come out of the woodwork to twist their hands in a knot. Nolan’s 100 year old Master Plan! You can’t make this stuff up!
Keep going parkour, you’ve got the chicken littles in a tizzy!
parkour,
I still for its redevelopment, but you do realize there is going to be a 800+ space parking deck there when they are done, don’t you? Even that will not fill the need…forget the ordinances.
I live in the vicinity of Lackawanna Plaza and Pathmark is my grocery store, so I’m curious to see the redevelopment of Lackawanna Plaza. It could be beautiful and my roommates and I try to imagine A) the aesthetics of a renovation and B) the type of stores/business that could be plugged in there. If the whole thing is converted into a Wegman’s, that’d be fine – although I’d hope that the “store fronts” facing Lackawanna Plaza (the street) would be converted into shops/cafés.
I’m not opposed to a third Starbucks in Montclair…
I’ll cop to being one of the usual suspects on this subject. The irony is being called out for it by other members of the peanut gallery.
Frank R,
I do indeed realize that there is going to be a 800+ parking garage there and as much as I wish we could not have so much of our lives revolve around the automobile, I am 100% behind multistory parking decks that can go vertical and accommodate 800 cars on the same footprint that surface parking fits 100. If we are still short parking put up 4-5-6 of these 800 space garages I still would not mind because all of them combined would stilll have FAR less of a footprint as the current surface parking fiasco that literally ruined any sense of aesthetics or public realm within the streets cape. This is urbanism 101 and of you take an aerial view of bloomfield Avenue you all see how inefficiently and unattractive our parking situation is. Within every block there are breaks in the storefronts where random lots of 8-12 cars are parked (or not…most of them are private parking that goes unused most of the time). I am all for on street parking, and I am all for parking deck that go vertical but we must get over the idea that every business and storefront deserves their own 6-8 parking spots adjacent to their property. There is no downtown streets cape that can even start being attractive and a pleasure to spend time in and look at that caters in this regard to the automobile. Surface parking is one of the biggest misallocation of public space I can think of. It has spread like a disease all over out country and its fine if you want to put a 2000 spot parking lagoon in front of a Target out on Route 46 but you cannot develop properties with that type of wasted space in between buildings in a downtown “Main St.” We used to build this way and things looked and felt beautiful…for the most part…our most attractive locales in town still look this way. Upper Montclair..Wacthung still have a consistent array of buildings and respect their relationship to the streets cape…Walnut and particularly Bloomfield will be recovering from how we decided to build from 1950 till now for decades to come. I can only hope we build as many parking decks as it takes to eliminate all of our tragic surface parking.
It’s also telling about how willing we are to overlook what the car and all of the development and equipment goes along with our automobile addiction in that so many hundreds of comments in previous articles about this hotel wrote about how “tragically ugly” and “uninspiring” this new hotel is and how we should “never allow something so hideous to occupy such an important entry point to town on a prominent intersection.” Yet on that same intersection and in every artists rendition of the building sits a freaking gas station…as ugly and prominent as can be…no one has anything to say about that…how much resistance did it get when it took up occupancy there…or the other 4-5 gas stations, tire shops, auto dealerships and other car related businesses that sit so prominently on the main drag of bloomfield and receive nary a comment from the aesthetics committee that seem so quick to trash all other development that bring more revenue and vibrance to town in one hour than any gas station will in a hundred years.
…arrogant dysfunctional rubbish with regards to the present downtown re development crisis
(we are all intitled to our opinions)
parkour,
Yes, 101 courses serve to introduce concepts that many carry with us through life like supply & demand, pavlovian conditioning, form follows function, walkable neighborhoods, etc, etc. OK, maybe not the last two.
But, let’s be clear. Montclair’s TOD strategy is not really about train stations, but about centering density around parking decks (e.g. Valley & Bloom). 800+ space decks will far exceed usage than any train station ridership. We should be drawing circles around our parking decks and not a few of our train stations. We also need to have these ¼ mile circles overlap (Urbanism 102) throughout our commercial zones or we will create new dead zones. Lastly, each deck requires their x number of cars to get to & from these decks at the center of each circle. Circulation. (FYI, I believe the traffic load on Bloomfield Ave at Mtc Ctr is, believe it or not, well below its maximum capacity.)
The Lackawanna parcels are clearly the best suited of all of our ANRs to implement these “Smart Growth” & “New Urbanism” principles in a built out community like ours. But, there is always the duality of impacts from any planning strategy. In our case, we are redirecting urban sprawl vertically – but it is still sprawl…and for all the same reasons as the 1950’s.
Can one see the gas stations on Bloomfield Avenue from New York City, because one will certainly be able to see that monstrosity of a hotel?
The Areas in Need of Redevelopment are the Planning Board and the Planning Department.
good one Frank GG !
frankkgg,
I have to chide you for not taking the Councils to task. This was their ANR and their redevelopment plan. As you know, all the ANRs and redevelopment plans are owned by the Councils, past and present. The Planning Board & the Planning Dept are just the instruments, much like scalpels, retractors & clamps are to a surgeon.
OK Frank R and thank you. I stand chided.
Perhaps the Planning Department and the Planning Board should be informed of this fact too.
Yes how dare people who have lived here for 30+ years and remember the original concept for Lackawanna being much different and failing give their opinions. Sunshine and rainbows. Let’s keep planning a community based on the tag line from an old Kevin Costner movie – if you build it they will come. No need for common sense or learning from past mistakes.
Give Talley her walking papers!