Oh No 60 and Inwood Place - Noth Village / Theater Redevelopment

Maplewood board votes 7-1 against adding 11 Inwood Place

TAP Into: packed-house-heated-questions-maplewood-planning-board-rejects-adding-lot-169-to-redevelopment-area-in-7-1-vote

We will be adding audio recording access when it becomes available. A great deal of insight was gained by the attentive listener. This project has been in the works for years it appears, and was always with an eye toward glomming onto the 4th Round Housing Obligation to force the town to expedite construction of this enormous building. Remember, it was described as 100 units before the movie theater purchase effort fell through (over a year in “due diligence”? Let’s be serious). Then it became 65 units, as introduced to the housing court–and at that point the property owners became adverse to the Township. That is, this developer choose a large stick to get their way, rather than engaging the community on an effort that was going nowhere. In the words of Chair Karen Pisciotta:

Pisciotta added that she was disturbed by the current affordable housing law. Although she supported its goals, she felt that Maplewood and other towns were “being held hostage.”

There’s A LOT more to share on all the inner workings of this over the past 5-8 years. Also, we’re all going to get an education on how affordable housing initiatives work in New Jersey. Why has our leadership kept us in the dark, while joining us in an on-going celebration of our progressive values. Are we being played?

Who Are These Stealth Investors Among Us?

In the past week more and more has been said about the people behind the two LLCs shown on property records for the bank building and for 11 Inwood Place. These LLCs are “161 Maplewood Investors, LLC” and “Greenpoint Investors, LLC”, both with mailing addresses in Maplewood and Chatham.

At the Feb 10th Planning Board meeting Mayor Deluca confirmed that the two LLCs have common “human” owners. Through research of public records we’ve determined that at least two of these people at Mark Slade, Salesperson and COO, Keller Williams Midtown Direct Realty, and Reed Kean, Salesperson and Operating Officer, Keller Williams Midtown Direct Realty.

The chart below shows a timeline related to the “Movie Theater” Re-development Plan and the ownership of 11 Inwood Place and 161 Maplewood Avenue.

The colored diamonds shown along the timeline can be matched to sections in the chart below the timeline.

There are two key points regarding this timeline that are better expressed in words:

• Under the Radar: These LLCs purchased 161 Maplewood Ave (the bank building) in 2015, and 11 Inwood Place in 2024. As is customary for larger real estate, these owners have had various conversations with the Township dating back to 2015/2016. More recently, during the public review of Re-development Plan drafts, it became increasingly clear that the document was being modified in subtle ways to expedite a future approval of plans. And also, over nearly five hours of public review, very little was said about the Inwood Place block–where the document language was especially open ended. Throughout this time the Township said that it wanted to wait to finish the reviews until after they knew who the new theater owners would be. Known during that period–extending from mid-2024 through 2025–was the 161 Maplewood Investors LLC was the party seeking to buy the movie theater. The prospective owners (Mark Slade and Reed Kean declined to step forward and share their ideas for the properties.
• See you in court: The effort to purchase the theater (the so-called “due diligence” period lasting over a year) fell through mid-2025. Shortly after that 161 Maplewood Investors, LLC joined a court case that was reviewing Maplewood’s affordable housing plan. Without sharing the history of the movie theater negotiations, their complaint stated that Maplewood’s Re-development Plan was obstructing them from building the units they planned, and also that Maplewood’s entire proposal for affordable housing was defective and inadequate. Ouch.

So stated succinctly: the owners of 161 Maplewood Investors, LLC and Greenpoint Investors, LLC are Mark Slade and Reed Kean (and potentially other parties not readily determined from public records). Both these men are prominent in Maplewood, active socially, and generous towards several of our non-profit institutions. At the same time, they are actively marketing Maplewood to new residents. Yet they’ve taken court action to win a project approval that would begin a slow decline of Maplewood Village’s key features. Rather than join community discussions that have occurred down the street at the Woodland. For over two years they’ve sought anonymity and the assistance from their legal team instead.

Interesting 

Mark and Reed aren't being very neighborly.

Jaytee said:

Maplewood board votes 7-1 against adding 11 Inwood Place

TAP Into: packed-house-heated-questions-maplewood-planning-board-rejects-adding-lot-169-to-redevelopment-area-in-7-1-vote

We will be adding audio recording access when it becomes available. A great deal of insight was gained by the attentive listener. This project has been in the works for years it appears, and was always with an eye toward glomming onto the 4th Round Housing Obligation to force the town to expedite construction of this enormous building. Remember, it was described as 100 units before the movie theater purchase effort fell through (over a year in “due diligence”? Let’s be serious). Then it became 65 units, as introduced to the housing court–and at that point the property owners became adverse to the Township. That is, this developer choose a large stick to get their way, rather than engaging the community on an effort that was going nowhere. In the words of Chair Karen Pisciotta:

Pisciotta added that she was disturbed by the current affordable housing law. Although she supported its goals, she felt that Maplewood and other towns were “being held hostage.”

There’s A LOT more to share on all the inner workings of this over the past 5-8 years. Also, we’re all going to get an education on how affordable housing initiatives work in New Jersey. Why has our leadership kept us in the dark, while joining us in an on-going celebration of our progressive values. Are we being played?

I always found it a conflict of interest that Town Committee members are on the Planning Board (especially whoever is mayor).

Yes, I know it's allowed. My personal belief is that it opens up the elected officials to unnecessary conflicts and gives them too much power over the process.

Whatever happened to South Orange for a Better Maplewood? They still around?

dave said:

Whatever happened to South Orange for a Better Maplewood? They still around?

Maybe they merged with Maplewood for a Better South Orange.

yahooyahoo said:

dave said:

Whatever happened to South Orange for a Better Maplewood? They still around?

Maybe they merged with Maplewood for a Better South Orange.

Not allowed per their by-laws.

dave said:

yahooyahoo said:

dave said:

Whatever happened to South Orange for a Better Maplewood? They still around?

Maybe they merged with Maplewood for a Better South Orange.

Not allowed per their by-laws.

We’ve been busy in South Orange actually meeting our low income housing requirements so well that we may be able to move on to housing that can be targeted to current residents with lower incomes.