On April 10, the Broadway store at the Montclair Plaza was demolished. The Montclair Broadway was an original element of the Montclair Plaza when it opened in 1968 as the 26th of stores in the chain founded by Arthur Letts, Sr.
Montclair Plaza was a cutting edge shopping venue when it opened, fully enclosed and air conditioned. Broadway was considered an anchor tenant, and it was designed by architect Charles Luckman, who that same year completed the remodeling of Madison Square Garden and who had designed The Forum in Inglewood, completed the previous year. Many considered the Montclair Broadway to be the epitome of the Broadway brand, which had cachet as an upscale shopping venue.
The Montclair Broadway remained in place for 28 years, until 1996, when the entire chain passed into the hands of Federated Department Stores, which converted the majority of the Broadway locations, including Montclair, into Macy’s department stores. In 2007, Macy’s ditched the site for the space on the west end of the mall previously occupied by Robinson-May. The building had been vacant for over a decade, with its escalator, most of its display cases, its fixtures and appurtenances intact. Up until two months ago, well over $800,000 worth of equipment and material remained within it, ready for use by a tenant who never materialized.
According to corporate officers with the CIM Group, which bought the mall in 2014, AMC Theatres will erect what is described as a dine-in theater, featuring twelve screens within 55,000-square feet on the upper level of the new building, and restaurants within the 64,000 square feet of the lower level.
Demolition will not be completed until June, and construction on the theater complex is to begin in September. It is anticipated the AMC Theatre will open in time to accommodate the holiday movie crowd by Thanksgiving/Christmas 2019.