The building once housing The Office Beer Bar & Grill on Bloomfield Avenue has been sitting vacant since the restaurant closed in 2019. The town is aiming to set redevelopment in motion—but not without some pushback.

Montclair’s Planning Board voted 6-2 last Monday to recommend the Township Council designate the 0.4-acre property at 619-631 Bloomfield Avenue as a “non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment,” according to reporting by Montclair Local.

If approved by the council, the designation would allow the town to set new building standards for the site and potentially offer the developer tax incentives. 

What Happened to the Building

The Office Beer Bar & Grill closed in 2019, after which the nonprofit Montclair Emergency Services for Hope (MESH) began using the space to serve people experiencing food insecurity. However, that came to an end in February when a burst pipe caused flooding—damaging the building and forcing MESH out. 

The property’s owner, BDP Bloomfield Avenue LLC, an affiliate of Montclair developer David Placek’s BDP Holdings LLC, purchased the building in July 2019 for $5.6 million. Placek told the planning board the vacancy was intentional, as he waited for the town to move forward on post-COVID development plans. Part of his vision for the site includes improving traffic on Portland Place.

The Tax Abatement Question

Not everyone on the planning board was in agreement. First Ward Councilor Erik D’Amato voted against it, arguing that the redevelopment designation—which could enable a tax abatement—was designed for urban blight, and not general redevelopment. He suggested that the town has other tools to deal with the dilapidated building. 

Mayor Renee Baskerville pushed back on concerns about tax abatements, noting that the designation doesn’t automatically require one.

The Township Council will now decide whether to approve the designation. No redevelopment plans have been officially announced.