It used to be called Detroit East, with Mercedes Benz and BMW as prime residents, but the borough of Montvale, N.J. lost its wheels to southern states. Now there's a plan to turn what used to be the Mercedes U.S. headquarters into housing. Northjersey.com reports:
For the past half-century, employees of the car company Mercedes-Benz worked out of its United States headquarters nestled in a campus not far from the Garden State Parkway.
The Montvale headquarters, which shuttered its doors in March when the company relocated to Sandy Springs, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, could be transformed into a complex that includes more than 300 housing units, a pharmacy and a four-story hotel with 150 rooms.
Civil engineer Michael Dipple for applicant SHG Montvale testified before the Montvale Planning Board on Tuesday night about plans to redevelop the site at 1 and 3 Mercedes Drive with mixed-use planned unit developments.
If approved, the two-phase project will help the borough meet its affordable-housing obligation set forth by the state. The Montvale Borough Council has rejected similar plans for redeveloping the site in the past.
