A 76-unit senior community is proposed for a parcel near the Princeton Shopping Center on North Harrison Street. Sunrise Senior Living, which has 316 senior communities throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, wants to build a 76-unit complex on a 4.5 acre site at the corner of Harrison Street and Terhune Road.

The proposal has been submitted to the municipality, and the company is awaiting comments from the staff. The town approved subdivision of the shopping center property two years ago, to create the lot that is zoned for senior housing.

“We’ve been looking at Princeton for years now,” said Jerry Liang, Sunrise’s senior vice president of development and investments. “Sunrise has had a presence in New Jersey for 15 or 20 years, and this is one of those areas we’ve been interested in the entire time.”

The application is for two buildings of approximately 63,000 square feet. “We put together, I think, a very sensible and thoughtful project,” Mr. Liang said. “We’ve spent quite a bit of time with planners as well as neighbors in discussion, taking their feedback into consideration. We did a good bit of outreach. We held meetings and met with some people in their homes.”

Those who live close to the proposed community were concerned that the design be tasteful and not too imposing. They also were curious about what kinds of services Sunrise would provide. “So we designed it taking into account the proximity of neighbors, making, in effect, two buildings,” Mr. Liang said. “The [main] building is two stories instead of three, and we moved the memory care floor to the side. The piece of land is relatively thin and long. We did a slightly larger footprint but in effect, there are two buildings. That went over quite well.”

Princeton’s needs match what Sunrise has to offer, Mr. Liang said. “It fits into a lot of what we look for, as far as the right location, right area, and the core services we provide. It is a historic location with a great deal of mix in age groups, but certainly one in which many members of the community have lived a long time. There are elderly residents who have been there their whole lives and need a place to spend their final years or months, being cared for near where they are most comfortable. That’s the vision of Sunrise.”

According to its website, the company was founded in 1981 and serves 32,400 people.