Two sets of proposals were considered by the Township Committee. In 2013, nine concepts were submitted, and three were reviewed by the Township Committee in detail. A summary of the proposals can be found here, and information on the “final three” can be found in the blog post titled “Three Developers Selected” on the original Engage Maplewood web site.
The chosen developer (L&M Development Partners) made presentations in late 2013 and early 2014. Before mid-year, however, L&M’s architect withdrew, and shortly later L&M withdrew. The explanation at the time was that a partner at the architectural firm (Beyer Blinder Belle) had fallen ill.
In late 2014 the Township received three more proposals, and from that group, selected JMF Properties as the new developer. Renderings of JMF’s proposal were first presented in January 2015. The pages on this site are related primarily to the timeline from this point forward¹ and appear under the TIMELINE>Proposals 2014-2015 menu item at the top of this page.
There were a total of a dozen concepts presented to the Township from which ultimately the Clarus Maplewood design emerged. There were no renderings presented to the public prior to the selection of L&M Development Partners or JMF Properties despite the large number of alternatives available for consideration, and despite numerous requests to that renderings be shared.
¹When Engage-Maplewood was formed in 2013 its initial goal was to facilitate sharing of information regarding the planning documents for the Post Office site. OHNO60 was formed in January 2015 specifically in response to a proposal by Mayor DeLuca to make a set of changes to the planning documents to accommodate requests from JMF Properties. The Mayor proposed changing the documents via a Township Committee vote rather than via a variance request by JMF Properties to the Planning Board. One request was to increase the building height nearly 20% to a total close to 60 feet. Oh No, 60 feet.
Oh No 60 