New Year, New Us!

A lookback on a few topics from 2024 you may have missed that matter! Plus important countdowns!

Author

Matt
January 02, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Hello Morristown! This is Morristown Scoop, your local newsletter helping connect everyone in our surrounding community!

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025 – the Year of the Snake 🐍 , sticking to resolutions (for at least a month), and the best year yet for us Morris County peeps. Morristown is buzzing with more action than ever, and we’re all over it! 🍦 Scoop’s resolution? To keep leveling up, bringing you the news you care about, the events you can’t miss, and all the good vibes that make this community one-of-a-kind. Let’s make it a year to remember! 🪅 🎉

Today’s Scoop 🍦:

  • 💭 The (yearly) Roundup (remember that drought?)

  • 🔦 The Spotlight (vintage, anyone?)

  • 📆 What’s Going On? (lots to do this weekend)

The Weather Report

Friday: 🙂 🌤️ 😰 — Hi 38, Lo 26

Saturday: 🙂 🌤️ 😰 — Hi 34, Lo 24

Sunday: 🙂 🌤️ 😰 — Hi 35, Lo 23

It’s starting to get frisky out there. Don’t forget your puffy jacket.

The Roundup

Warning: Massive Drought in New Jersey 🚰 

Remember when we didn’t get rain for nearly 2.5 months 🌧️ ? How crazy was that?? There were ‘no burn’ ordinances in place all over New Jersey, and especially in Morris County. If anyone was trying to grow new grass during this time, I can bet your water bill was astronomical 🫢!

BUT WAIT!

We are literally still in a drought warning according to the NJ DEP…. Even though we’ve gotten some significant rain the last 10 days, “The public is strongly urged to continue to voluntary water conservation practices.” So do your civic duty and continue to conserve water when you can! It’s much easier to do in the winter when the gardens and grass don’t need to hydrate. Hopefully we get some good snowfall and we’re back to neutral come Spring time ♨️ 

Goodbye & Thank You Mehndi, SM23, Ming II 🙏 

In case you haven’t heard, three restaurants which have been staples of the Morristown downtown for over two decades have made the decision to close. Mehndi, SM23, and Ming II were all located towards the ‘annex’ of Headquarters Plaza. While the concepts and atmosphere were always top notch, it was always a concern that the location was going to be a hinderance to their long term success - especially after COVID 😷 .

Even though the surrounding area has been invested in by the town and business ventures (see Parkside Tavern & 1776), unfortunately the foot traffic in this area never really returned to reach the entrances of these establishments. Their lease is ending and the owners indicated it is time to move on and focus on another concept.

The Hyatt and the entire Headquarters plaza is undergoing a tremendous renovation. The Scoop will be all over this development as it occurs, and we’re excited to see what innovative concept could take over the vacant space left by this restaurant group.

Vacant Buildings May Be No More! 🏢 

The Morristown Green is one of Morristown’s greatest attractions. And the surrounding businesses have benefited greatly from the tremendous growth of our community over the past 15 years. However, the Park Place side of the Morristown Green 🟩 has become somewhat of a ghost town as tenants have left and Century 21, the longstanding anchor ⚓️ tenant, shut down in 2020.

So what is to come? Well there is a redevelopment plan 🚧 that’s got us all hot and bothered! It will not happen overnight, as there are many stakeholders and interests, but it seems like there is significant movement to get something done. This piece of the Green houses so much historical significance and nostalgia for many Morristown visitors (It was a Macy’s back in the 80’s…) 🕰️ 

Honestly, while we’re excited, we’re not holding our breath. The owner of the property doesn’t seem to be aligned with the town’s vision for the block, and is looking to sell the property to the same developer who built the M Station development. One of the issues is the current owner doesn’t want to sell 10 North Park Place which is currently leased to Playa Bowls 🥣 . It was always peculiar when that happened about 3 years ago…It didn’t make much sense when no other tenants came in alongside them.

Hoping and praying for a 2025 miracle!

The Spotlight

Photo of the Week 🖼️ 🌆 🥯 

Below is a picture from some decade in the past, we’re not sure which one. Can you guess which road this is on? I’m sure plenty of you have been to the current tenants who occupy this space. It truly is amazing how many things change, but many things stay the same. This building looks very similar today as it did back then.

Do you recognize this location? Hint - it’s close to the Morristown Train Station.

What to do, What to do 😮 

Upcoming Local Events

📖 Used Book Sale - Saturday 1/4 @ 10:00AM 📍 Morristown Public Library

🎷 LIVE MUSIC - Vinnie Caruana - Saturday 1/11/25 @ 7:00PM 📍Twin Elephants Brewing

Event Countdowns

Thank you!

Thanks for reaching this edition of Morristown Scoop. We’re getting better and better with each email. More to come with additional events and opportunities to get involved with your community!