A one-acre concrete plaza sitting atop a parking garage was intended to be the crown jewel of Morristown’s 2M square foot urban renewal experiment, Headquarters Plaza. Despite great intentions, this space evolved into a highly-visible void—windswept and inhospitable, virtually unused for decades. 

Over the course of years, Topology worked with Town stakeholders and the property owner to negotiate a public-private partnership to support a new vision for the space. Topology, serving as Morristown’s town planner and project manager, resolved regulatory hurdles with New Jersey’s Green Acres program, guided an efficient design process and facilitated public consensus through a series of engaging workshops. The result is a design that will provide an amenity for office tenants, an opportunity to reinvent long-vacant storefronts square to attract retail, and a missing link in the downtown’s open space assets for the public-at-large. Even during the midst of a global pandemic in 2020, these plans have already attracted new retail investment along the edges of the plaza. 

Photos courtesy of Melillo | Bauer | Carman.