The developer has 90 days to negotiate agreements for preliminary concepts totaling about 214 homes, along with offices, retail and parking. Final designs and construction remain subject to additional approvals.
MORRISTOWN, NJ – The Morristown Town Council unanimously selected SJP Morristown Green LLC as the conditional redeveloper of two long-vacant areas near the Morristown Green on Aug. 18, beginning negotiations over projects that could add approximately 214 homes to the downtown.
The council approved separate resolutions covering storefronts along North Park Place and Washington Street, including the former Century 21 department store, and the former law offices at 2–10 Washington Street. Each resolution gives SJP a 90-day exclusive negotiating period, which the mayor or town administrator may extend by another 60 days.
The votes, recorded during the town’s Aug. 18 council meeting, conditionally designate SJP as the preferred developer. Final redevelopment agreements, detailed designs and land-use approvals remain outstanding. The council did not authorize construction or approve a tax-abatement agreement.
If the town and SJP do not complete redevelopment agreements within the authorized period, the designations will expire automatically.
Preliminary concepts call for housing, offices and retail
For North Park Place, SJP’s preliminary concept calls for approximately 160 residential units, between 100,000 and 120,000 square feet of build-to-suit office space, ground-floor retail and parking, according to the resolutions.
The approximately three-acre redevelopment area contains 11 tax lots along North Park Place and Washington Street. Its most visible property is the former Century 21 department store at the corner of North Park Place and Speedwell Avenue, which closed in 2020.
The second concept covers three connected properties at 2, 6 and 10 Washington Street, near Bank Street. SJP is considering approximately 54 residential units, ground-floor retail and parking.
Those buildings date to approximately 1870 and 1880 and were once occupied by the Schenck, Price, Smith & King law firm. The firm moved to Florham Park around 2010, and the properties have remained largely vacant since then, according to the town’s 2–10 Washington Street Redevelopment Plan.
Morristown Green reported that entities controlled by property owner Dave Brown signed purchase agreements with SJP on June 10 for both areas. Completing those private sales remains separate from the town’s redevelopment approvals.
Brown plans to retain ownership of 10 North Park Place, according to Morristown Green. The Provident Bank property at the corner of North Park Place and Washington Street has separate ownership and is outside the proposed purchase.
Adopted plans limit what can be built
SJP’s final proposals will have to follow the town’s existing redevelopment plans unless the council formally amends them.
The North Park Place Redevelopment Plan, adopted in February 2024, permits up to 160 homes and limits buildings to five stories or 60 feet. It requires active ground-floor uses along street frontages and directs the area to be developed as a unified project, although it may contain multiple buildings and parcels.
All vehicle access must come from the existing driveway connecting to Cattano Avenue. The plan also requires a pedestrian route between North Park Place and the Dalton parking garage.
The existing building at 10 North Park Place must be retained with only limited modifications. Stone medallions on the former Century 21 building must be restored and reused, either on the building or elsewhere near the project if the structure is demolished.
The plan requires a traffic study covering intersections around the Green, including Speedwell Avenue and Cattano Avenue, Bank and Washington streets, and the intersection of Speedwell Avenue with North and East Park Place.
The North Park plan also requires affordable housing. Rental developments must set aside 15% of their homes as affordable, while for-sale developments must reserve 20%. A full 160-unit rental project would therefore contain 24 affordable homes; a 160-unit for-sale project would contain 32. The final number will depend on the approved unit count and whether the homes are rented or sold.
At 2–10 Washington Street, the adopted plan also permits a maximum of five stories, 60 feet and 54 homes. It requires at least 1,000 square feet of active ground-floor space and preservation of the historic Washington Street facade at one of the properties.
Vehicle access is prohibited from Washington Street and must be provided from Bank Street. The plan requires its own traffic study and no fewer than eight on-site, family, non-age-restricted affordable homes.
SJP has two other major Morristown projects
SJP developed M Station, the office complex on Morris Street occupied by Deloitte and Sanofi. The company has also received Planning Board approval for M Lofts, a $78.3 million project with 150 apartments, including 30 affordable homes, near M Station, according to SJP’s project summary.
The North Park Place and Washington Street properties have gone through several proposed sales and conditional redeveloper selections.
A 2022 agreement to sell the properties to Accurate Builders & Developers did not close. Morristown later selected North Park Place Holdings LLC, a partnership involving Cannon Hill Capital Partners and TAG Development, for the North Park Place area. Its designation expired without a redevelopment agreement.
The council conditionally selected TAG Development for 2–10 Washington Street in March 2026. That designation also expired before an agreement was completed.
Morristown designated the North Park Place properties as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment in December 2023. The town made the same designation for 2–10 Washington Street in March 2021.
SJP must now complete negotiations with the town and satisfy its purchase contracts with the property owner. Any final projects would require redevelopment agreements approved by the council and public land-use reviews before the Planning Board.