Newark Way Was Built One Lease at a Time, and It Shows on the Calendar

How does a street in Maplewood's Hilton neighborhood end up with a brewery, a raw bar, a cheese shop, a square-pie pizzeria and an art gallery inside a few hundred feet of each other, with no redevelopment plan and no single new building behind it?

Since 2019, one local owner has filled most of the storefronts on Newark Way and Boyden Avenue. That common start shows up on any October weekend, when the businesses book events together, lend each other space and run what is close to a shared calendar.

It Started With a Bread Stand in 2019

According to The Village Green's August 2026 report on the street, the build-up began in 2019. That year Maplewood native Fred Shandler opened The BreadStand on Boyden Avenue between Menzel and Jacoby. In 2023 he moved his Maplewood Village restaurant, Arturo's, to 15 Newark Way, renamed it Artie's and folded The BreadStand into it.

After that the street filled in steadily. The same report says Shandler kept buying properties and recruiting businesses: Porta Rossa, Perla Seafood & Raw Bar, Corner Slice, Wheelhouse, Shopkeeper and, this September, The Art Generators Gallery. The one major addition outside that chain came in 2025, when Pallet Brewing Company opened at 30 Newark Way. Its building belongs to Levent Erhamza, who also owns and runs Guten Parts + Storage next door at 34 Newark Way.

That history matters because the street was never zoned for any of this. Newark Way sits in a light-industrial zone, where restaurants and retail are not permitted uses. A district like this gets built when an owner who is willing to work through use variances keeps choosing tenants to sit beside the ones already there. No master plan was involved.

The Block, Address by Address

Starting from Artie's on Newark Way and walking toward Boyden Avenue, here is what is open and what each place does:

1. Artie's, 15 Newark Way. Bakery, pizzeria and wine-and-cocktail restaurant under one roof. When the Arturo's move was announced in 2023, the new site was described as having more space, more parking and a liquor license.
2. The Art Generators Gallery (TAGG), 14 Newark Way. A pop-up gallery opened in collaboration with Artie's, which made the space available. It is open Thursday through Sunday, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.
3. Pallet Brewing Company, 30 Newark Way. The brewery held its soft opening on July 2, 2025, with co-owner Eric McGowan as head brewer.
4. Perla Seafood & Raw Bar, 415 Boyden Avenue. A 32-seat seafood restaurant and raw bar with small plates drawn from Iberian cooking, tapas and French bistro food. Owner and chef Matthew Chappina started Perla in fall 2023 as a mobile private-events business before he found a permanent home.
5. Wheelhouse Cheese & More, 417 Boyden Avenue. Cheese, charcuterie, accompaniments, baguettes and tinned fish, from co-owners Aaron Kirtz and Leigh Friend. Montclair Local reported that it opened in May 2025.
6. Corner Slice, 419 Boyden Avenue. New York square pie, served from the building that used to house The BreadStand. In late 2023, The Village Green reported that the New York City pizzeria was coming to Maplewood.
7. Porta Rossa. An Italian pasta store, first covered by The Village Green in July 2023.
8. Shopkeeper. A small retail shop whose current stock runs to flower garlands and paintings.

Three of the Boyden Avenue storefronts sit at consecutive addresses, 415, 417 and 419, so dinner at Perla, cheese from Wheelhouse and a slice at Corner Slice are a few doors apart. Pallet, at the far end of Newark Way, is the only stop that takes more than a minute's walk from the rest.

Why the Businesses Keep Booking Each Other

TAGG itself is a collaboration. Artie's made the 14 Newark Way space available, and the gallery is run by The Art Generators, a collective of four local artists: Natalie Crandall, Sumana Ghosh-Witherspoon, Ken Stanek and Magie McGowan. The group's Affordable Art outdoor markets had already drawn crowds before it took on a permanent room. When TAGG launched, the collective's press release, quoted by The Village Green, framed the gallery around its location:

"a new creative destination committed to showcasing artists both local and from afar, while fostering community, and bringing fresh energy to this growing section of Maplewood"

The cross-booking goes beyond the gallery. Pallet's October 4 Oktoberfest featured live music and collaborations with Corner Slice and Wheelhouse. Wheelhouse runs its own calendar of drawing nights, socials and benefits. Each event brings people to a neighbor's door, and when so many of the storefronts were placed by the same owner, that overlap is part of the design.

TAGG's schedule shows the same logic. The gallery premieres a new exhibition on the first Friday of every month, so the street has a fixed evening on the calendar once a month. The opening date is predictable, and the bars and restaurants on either side benefit from it.

The Next Few Weeks on Newark Way

The stretch from mid-October to early November is especially full. The Maplewood Village Art Walk & Music Fest on Sunday, October 18 lands in the middle of it, so the Village's biggest fall arts day falls on the same weekend as Wheelhouse's tea social.

Pallet's calendar also lists a Halloween bash. "Delightfully Strange" opened with a reception on October 2. The two published end dates for the show differ by one day, October 31 and November 1, so Halloween weekend is the safe last visit. The Art Walk brings more than 50 juried professional artists into the Village streets, including painters, ceramicists, photographers and jewelers.

TAGG's November show opens on the same Friday as Wheelhouse's tasting, which gives the first-Friday pattern a concrete example within a month.

What Hasn't Been Decided Yet

Newark Way's growth depends on decisions the township has not made yet. The street's zoning has not changed.

In October 2025, the Zoning Board approved Shandler's use variance for 17-21 Newark Way, a building with two ground-floor retail spaces and three apartments, one of them affordable, in a second-floor addition. The Village Green reported it under construction in August 2026 and did not name tenants for the two retail spaces.

Five members of the Zoning Board have asked elected officials to consider changing the zoning to fit the neighborhood's transformation. Under the current rules, each new restaurant or shop can require its own use-variance application. The zoning ordinance cannot change unless a majority of the five-member Township Committee agrees on the scope and votes to amend it.

The conversation is moving to a public setting. Mayor Vic De Luca announced at the August 4 Township Committee meeting that economic development in the Newark Way and Boyden Avenue area would be the topic of the Hilton Neighborhood Association's October meeting. The township's agenda page lists the next Township Committee meeting for October 20. Until the zoning changes, every new business on the street will need the same case-by-case approval that brought in the current ones.

Design-minded neighbors know what Newark Way shows: a street changes fastest when each new tenant is chosen with the one next door in mind. If you're thinking about what that kind of block-by-block change means for a home near the Hilton section, or anywhere else in South Orange and Maplewood, Shannon Xavier would welcome the conversation. Schedule Your Concierge Consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.