HONORED: Princeton municipal officials and staff, together with Liza Reed, daughter of the late Ingrid Reed, recently won a Smart Growth Award from New Jersey Future. From left are Planning Board Chair Louise Wilson, Liza Reed, Sustainable Princeton Executive Director Christine Symington, Municipal Administrator Bernie Hvozdovic, Council President Mia Sacks, Councilmember Michelle Pirone Lambros, and Senior Planner Ian Henderson. (Photo by Reed Sacks)

By Anne Levin

Princeton’s Terhune Harrison Mixed Use Village was one of several projects honored October 22 with a Smart Growth Award by New Jersey Future.

The ceremony at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, part of the 2024 New Jersey Future showcase conference, also included a posthumous Leadership Award to the late Ingrid Reed, as well as announcement of the Ingrid Reed For Our Future Fund to support education and training for future Smart Growth leaders.

“It was a special evening for Princeton,” said Princeton Council President Mia Sacks, who worked on the Terhune Harrison project along with Councilmembers David Cohen and Michelle Pirone Lambros. “The award was for sustainable planning. It’s very fitting that that’s what Ingrid was known for.”

Earlier last week, Sacks issued a statement saying this was the first time Princeton has received the Smart Growth Award since the Hinds Plaza Redevelopment Project was a recipient almost 20 years ago.

“Although fiercely opposed at the time, it is now integral to our community’s fabric and beloved by Princeton residents,” said Sacks. “Then, as now, redevelopment, through efficient use of existing infrastructure, continues to be the most environmentally responsible and economically productive form of development.”

On New Jersey Future’s website, the Terhune Harrison Mixed Use Village is described as “a model for how strategic redevelopment can knit together and revitalize a community by building on existing assets, planning comprehensively, and engaging with residents to shape a project that meets local needs. This ambitions development transforms an underutilized shopping center, obsolete office park, and disconnected public park into an integrated, vibrant mixed-use village that enhances connectivity, encourages placemaking, and supports a diversity of residents.”

The primary partners listed for the award are the Municipality of Princeton, AvalonBay Communities, The Alice Princeton, and LRK.

Before its redevelopment, the site was a prime example of “stranded assets,” reads the description, “properties that had fallen into disrepair and no longer served the community effectively.”

The project included significant community engagement, it continues. “Feedback from neighbors led to design changes that increased the project’s integration with surrounding areas, enhanced pedestrian connectivity, and ensured appropriate buffers between the new development and existing homes. The project reestablishes a vibrant town center, creating a walkable, bike-friendly environment that invites residents and visitors to explore, socialize, and engage with their surroundings.”

Other projects honored at the event included a mixed-use, mixed-income housing development in Newark, a mixed-use redevelopment plan in Hoboken, creation of Musconetcong Island Park, and redevelopment of a vacant lot in Asbury Park.

A founding member of New Jersey Future and past chair of its board of trustees, Reed was honored as “a public policy professional who built and leveraged her network and knowledge to advance civic life in New Jersey as a supporter of forward-thinking, sustainability-based planning, journalism, arts, and the City of Trenton.”