Morristown OKs $78 million M Lofts project, with 150 apartments and new public park

They finally can put away the drawing boards.

After more than 20 years on the town’s redevelopment list, the long-vacant Spring Street tract between M Station and Bethel A.M.E. Church has a future.

On Thursday, the Morristown planning board unanimously approved SJP Properties’ site plan for M Lofts, a $78.3 million complex of 150 apartments, 30 of them affordable. The six-story project will include two levels of parking (165 spaces), two green roofs, an indoor golf simulator, and a public park along the Whippany River.

“THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL PROJECT”

Mayor Tim Dougherty hailed SJP as the “outstanding developer” behind M Station—home to Deloitte and Sanofi—and the Valley National Bank headquarters.

“This is a beautiful project,” the mayor said of M Lofts.

Planning board member Stefan Armington, former council president, voted yes despite concerns about vagrancy in woods near the proposed park.

“This whole area was as abandoned and blighted as you can get for the last 20 years,” Armington said. “For people opposed to development, this is not one they should be opposed to, in my opinion.”

He added that the area now home to M Station—and soon, M Lofts—has been eyed for redevelopment since at least 2004, and said the apartments will bring tax revenue and new life to the Second Ward.

Board Chairman Joe Stanley recalled how the 1960s urban renewal project at Headquarters Plaza cleaved the town in two, “turning its back on the Second Ward.”

But M Lofts and its riverside park, he said, will enhance and incorporate the Second Ward into the larger community, “and I think that should definitely be applauded.”

DESIGN, TRAFFIC AND TIMELINE

Architect Dean Marchetto said M Lofts was designed to echo neighboring M Station. Step-backs from the sidewalk will make the six-story building “appear to be four stories in many places,” and tinted garage windows will screen headlight glare.

Project planner Matt Seckler estimated fewer than 50 vehicle trips during peak commuting hours.

Construction is slated to begin in mid-2026 and take two years, according to Keenan Hughes, SJP’s vice president for planning and development. “We’re thrilled to finally have approvals with the municipality,” Hughes said. “It was a pleasure to work with the town and its professionals to bring this to fruition.”

The board’s approval includes conditions: Easements, a developer’s agreement, a security plan for the Whippany River park, and signage welcoming the public to that park.
When the town council heard SJP’s M Loft pitch last year, other terms were set:

A tenement house at Spring and Morris will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
A wooded parcel across Spring Street—including ruins of an historic Black school—will be donated to the town.

The 1.37-acre site includes steep slopes and abuts a flood zone.

THE PILOT: 20 YEARS, MEF CONTRIBUTIONS

The council has approved a 20-year PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) for M Lofts. Instead of paying into the regional school tax levy, the developer will make payments to the nonprofit Morris Educational Foundation, an arrangement that sparked debate earlier this year.

Supporters cited the MEF’s track record; a critic argued funds should flow directly to the Morris School District. The MEF supports scholarships and programs in the district.

A 2008 plan envisioned hundreds of residential units and a hotel for the Spring Street corridor. SJP and partner Scotto Properties kick-started the area’s revival in 2020 with M Station, which brought Deloitte and Sanofi to Morris and Spring streets.

With M Lofts, the partners say they are completing their “Live, Work, Play” vision—this time adding public green space intended to reconnect the Second Ward with downtown.

In other business, the planning board gave the council its blessing to proceed with a pair of zoning ordinances.

One will require developers to designate 20 percent of units as affordable, instead of 15 percent. The other reverts to 2018 zoning that will make it easier to develop a tricky Cory Road parcel by allowing apartments above forward-facing garages.

The board also waived an on-site parking requirement for the former owner of Fatty’s. Michael Dey has yet to move forward on his 2022 approval to erect a mixed-use structure on Morris Street, near the restaurant he relinquished to make way for the M Station roundabout at Morris and Spring streets.

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