Montclair, New Jersey, has a diverse and active community that has helped foster the arts and music scene throughout the town's history. The Wellmont Theater was a former motion picture theater that counted Thomas Edison among its earliest visitors and currently serves as a concert and events venue with a capacity of 2,600. In 2015, the Township of Montclair embarked on a lofty goal: to utilize redevelopment to create a new downtown arts district centered on the historic Wellmont Theater.

The redevelopment, described as the Seymour Street Redevelopment Plan, includes 250 residential units, 38,000 square feet of retail, 40,000 square feet of office space and three parking garages. The centerpiece for this redevelopment is the 15,000-square-foot, "Wellmont Arts Plaza." The plaza was developed by closing Seymour Street to cars and transforming it into a pedestrian plaza. Repurposing a street as a plaza has its challenges.

Major concerns, such as redirected vehicular traffic flow, prioritizing pedestrian safety, connectivity to surrounding streets and parking locations, and validating the scale of an effective outdoor gathering space, were identified through a process where numerous public and private meetings were held, and subsequently addressed in early drafts of the redevelopment plan.

 
The street has significant topography sloping almost 15' from front to back, a web of utilities below grade, and, most importantly, it must serve a variety of users and purposes. The new plaza had to accommodate these constraints, be enjoyable for day-to-day users while also being able to accommodate the 2000 patrons gathering and queuing before a show at the theater.

Both the Planning Board and the Historic Preservation Commission further contributed to defining the goals and character of the project in their reviews of those redevelopment plan drafts. The innovative nature of the design guidelines within the redevelopment plan, established strict architectural boundaries based on the massing and materiality of the immediate eclectic context while providing latitude in the form of a range of possible stylistic precedents drawn from the town, region, and internationally.

The resulting Wellmont Arts Plaza is a flexible space that accommodates the many uses it needed to serve. The entrance to the plaza includes an entry totem sign and bicycle parking located within a curb extension. This is a traffic calming measure to provide pedestrians with safe access to the plaza. Upon entering the plaza, visitors walk up the gently sloped promenade. The promenade is flanked on either side by raised planters with integrated wood seating that steps with the topography of the site. The planters act as retaining walls to provide level space for outdoor dining and cafes. Visitors then arrive at the open piazza. This flexible space provides access to the new retail spaces as well as the Wellmont Theater.

Catenary lighting suspended overhead encloses the space and enhances the evening ambiance. The south end of the plaza utilizes the topography to mimic the Eagle Rock Reservation - integrating native planting and boulders. The "Performance Stair" is a unique feature used for seating day-to-day but as a stage in the evening. Public art is integrated throughout the plaza including a 20' sculpture, a 15'x50' painted mural, and a "sound wave" paving pattern on the promenade.

The plaza was opened in the summer of 2021 and has transformed the way people enjoy downtown. Daily, the plaza is filled with people relaxing and enjoying the respite; and on weekends it is bustling with people visiting the Wellmont Theater.

The redevelopment includes two new mixed-use buildings that frame the arts plaza and respond to the goals and objectives of the redevelopment plan. The first building, Two South Willow, fronts on Bloomfield Avenue and South Willow Street. This mixed-use building contains 29,000 square feet of street level retail and 10,000 square feet of art related space such as music studios, an art school, and gallery space, which opens onto the new arts and entertainment plaza. The upper floors are residential and contain 200 rental apartments with a landscaped roof deck. Resident parking for 216 spaces is located behind the retail and in the basement. The exterior façade of this building refers to the traditional architectural context along Bloomfield Avenue. Careful attention is paid to the brick detailing and façade modulation relating to the scale of the surrounding buildings. A modern projecting bay window is introduced turning the corner, and the focus, from Bloomfield Avenue into the new pedestrian arts plaza. This modern design element provides an architectural transition linking the new development with the surrounding brick building vernacular.

The second building, One Seymour Plaza, is a five-story, 270 space municipal parking garage with two floors totaling 40,000 square feet of medical office space above. The building's lobby fronts onto the new arts plaza, however, vehicular access and egress for cars and entertainer tour buses comes from the adjoining streets. The façade of this building incorporates three large, perforated metal screen panels angled into the pedestrian plaza towards Bloomfield Avenue designed to mask the garage openings. A projection system displays still and moving images onto these panels during the evening hours which draws patrons into the arts plaza and provides a visually stimulating atmosphere, especially during concert events.

This diverse mix of uses, pedestrian centric design, attention to placemaking, and the arts and thoughtful repurposing of an underutilized road will infuse downtown Montclair with activity 24/7 and 365 days per year for decades to come. This project is evidence of what a true public-private partnership can achieve.