By Anne Levin

On October 17, a packed audience filled Witherspoon Hall for a community forum devoted to development of the Tennent/Roberts/Whiteley campus of Princeton Theological Seminary. James P. Herring of Herring Properties, the contract purchaser of the site, presented a concept plan for a 238-unit apartment complex, 48 of which would be designated affordable.

Council President Mia Sacks introduced the program, noting that the town’s redevelopment team vetted Herring’s concept over the summer. The forum, the third to be held on the proposal, was intended as a “kickoff” to the formal process of adopting the plan.

The town’s redevelopment counsel Steve Mlenack told the audience that two meetings of Princeton Council, a Planning Board meeting, and a public hearing are involved in the process. Following that, the town will negotiate a redevelopment agreement with the developer before the regular site plan review is undertaken.

The Seminary had originally considered building new student apartments at the site, which was designated an area in need of redevelopment in October 2018. But the plans for student apartments were withdrawn by the Seminary in the fall of 2019. Last year, three early 20th century buildings considered beyond restoring were torn down.

Herring said that the development, which borders a residential neighborhood, would be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units, some of which would include a den. The target tenants are empty nesters, young professionals, and Princeton University alumni. The property is made up of two parcels divided by Hibben Road, and would include a new road built within the main section. Cars would enter from Stockton Street.

Hoboken-based Marchetto Higgins Stieve Architecture is the designer of the project, with local architect Marina Rubina as strategic architectural consultant. Most of the parking for the apartment would be underground. Open space and stormwater controls would be a focus. Recycled materials, LED lighting, and Energy Star appliances would be used. Smart growth practices would be followed.

Speaking on behalf of the board of the organization Princeton Future, Sheldon Sturges said the group was pleased to see the process that is underway. In its previous life as part of the Seminary, the property was considered a gateway to Princeton. “We believe the new development can be more than a gateway, rather a visual statement that people have already entered into a residential neighborhood,” which would get motorists to slow down,” he said.

Neighborhood resident and empty nester Andrea Gaynor and her husband are in the process of selling their home of 32 years. While many of their friends “have jumped the river to Bucks” or moved elsewhere, she welcomes the idea of the new development, she said. It would be a benefit for Princeton if retirees who want to stay in the community and volunteer would be able to do so.

Real estate agent Tony DiMeglio said neighborhood residents who are worried about property values going down shouldn’t be concerned. In the last year, four houses in the neighborhood have sold for over $4.5 million, “so the question of home values of what this project is going to be is a non-issue. The need is for housing here is for rightsizing, not downsizing. This is the future of housing.”

Neighborhood resident Jessica Vieira commented that while the concept plan looks aesthetically pleasing, she is worried about traffic. “The traffic on 206 is horrible, and I’m not sure how you’re going to get 221 cars out of a development when there are 18 wheelers coming down 206. Finding a way to get all of that 206 cut-through traffic away will help your project tremendously and help our neighborhood stay as residential as you’re proposing it to be.”

Karen O’Connell, who lives on Hibben Road, said she and her neighbors have had many things promised to them during the process, including that no redevelopment of the site would be decided upon without a mutually acceptable plan. She read a letter sent to residents two years ago promising a collaborative effort between the contract purchaser and residents.

“This has not yet occurred, even though we have reached out to the Council on many occasions,” she said, “to no avail, and in good faith. I ask the Council to make good on their commitment and allow us to provide meaningful input, and, as the municipality’s own lawyer has stated, work together to achieve a mutually acceptable plan.”

Carol Golden, who sits on the town’s Affordable Housing Board as well as the board of Housing Initiatives of Princeton, said the smart growth aspects of the proposal “really hit home for me. Many of the families we provide our own transitional housing for, we hope one day will graduate and be able to live in the affordable units in this new project. They really need access to town, the trains, and the bus lines.”

Betsy Brown, who lives on Edgehill Street, said the people who created the concept plan must not be familiar with the traffic on Route 206. “You are out of your mind,” she said. “This is the most polluted block in Princeton.”

Bown and her husband can no longer walk along 206 to Marquand Park, instead using Mercer Street because the fumes gave her headaches. “You have no sense of reality,” she said. “You have these absurd pictures of one or two graceful little cars on the road when it’s truck after truck, and because it’s New Jersey, these are old trucks with diesel and smoke. If you can clean up 206, then go ahead and build. But if you can’t, you’re creating a death trap.”