NEW JERSEY—Once upon a time, travelers limited themselves to convenient hotels peppered along Northern NJ's highways. But with townships like Montclair becoming thriving live/work/play destinations, hoteliers are now heading miles inland.
The Pinnacle Cos recently announced The MC, a $35M, 120k SF full-service boutique hotel that'll be part of Marriott’s exclusive Autograph Collection (which includes NYC’s storied Algonquin and San Francisco’s The Adagio, among others). The 148-key hotel is also Montclair’s first since the Hotel Montclair closed in 1938, Pinnacle CEO Brian Stolar tells us. (That's a long time without pillow mints or room service.)
Over the past decade, Brian tells us Montclair has seen a resurgence as an "eclectic foodie destination" with more than 100 eateries, the Wellmont Theater (which hosts Ted Nugent and The Wiggles... though not at the same time), and an art museum. So demand is there. Building hotels in non-major markets is also one of Marriott’s strategies to expand its Autograph Collection, he says. It was attracted to the area’s burgeoning transportation: six local train stations with ultra-low emission vehicle shuttles; a new bike and car share program; and bike storage at all train stations.
Amenities will include a farm-to-table restaurant, a rooftop bar, lobby library and an outdoor plaza (above) connected to a two-story round atrium with 30-foot-high glass walls, open year-round to the public. It also has an art program—in partnership with the Montclair Township—that'll feature exhibitions in the lobby and public areas, including a sculpture on the plaza.
The project is just one part of the Montclair Center Gateway Redevelopment Plan, a.k.a. CentroVerde, which also includes the mixed-use Valley & Bloom project (above) that Pinnacle is co-developing with LCOR (258 residential units, 25k SF of office space, and nearly 26k SF of retail). The MC Hotel is the project’s second phase and will break ground in Q4 for a early 2016 opening. Outside of work, Brian tells us he’s an avid cyclist, biking thousands of miles a year. “It gives you an up-close-and-personal look at the places you visit,” he says. One of his recent destinations: the little villages of The Pyrenees.
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