Maria Elizabeth Diaco in her new Broad Street boutique, the Haute Maven. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A long vacancy in the heart of downtown Red Bank ended with the opening of a new women’s clothing boutique this week.
redbankgreen‘s Retail Churnalso has an update on the long-awaited conversion of the Anderson Building, which has been vacant for more than three decades.
Permits have been issued for the Anderson Building, future home to a Sickles store. Below, Diaco shows off the “selfie mirror” in her new boutique. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
• Maria Elizabeth Diaco, a self-described lifelong fashion lover who grew up in Middletown and now lives in Rumson, has opened the Haute Maven at 18 Broad Street.
She describes the boutique’s offerings as “chic clothes you can wear everyday,” including the brands Mr. Mittens, Designers Remix and Norma Kamali.
The boutique features a full-length “selfie mirror” that enables shoppers to select, with hand swipes in the air, different articles of clothing to try on, virtually. The device superimposes the item on the image of the customer, and can be used to take snaps and email them.
The opening ends a three-year vacancy in the 2,500-square-foot space that began with the 2014 closing of If the Shoe Fits, a footwear store. Plans by building owner Ralph Notaro to create a restaurant in the space didn’t pan out.
• Permits for footings and foundations have been issued by the borough for the Anderson Building, clearing the way for the start of construction on the former commercial storage structure at Monmouth Street and Bridge Avenue, kittty-corner from the Red Bank train station.
Owner Metrovation’s plan, approved in 2014, called for gutting the existing structure and tacking on a four-story addition to produce a 48,600-square-foot structure with offices on the upper three floors.
The ground floor is to be leased to Sickles Market of Little Silver, which plans to open an 8,000-square-foot store called ‘Sickles Market Provisions‘ there with a Booskerdoo coffee shop within.
Metrovation principal Chris Cole tells Churn he’s hoping to have occupants in the building by the fall of 2018.
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