Residents and West Windsor officials got an in-depth view of Irv Cyzner’s plans for the former Acme shopping center on October 20 at the Planning Board, where the developer said that Starbucks has already signed a letter of intent to move into the 13.5 acre-site.
Cyzner Properties, which purchased the dilapidated shopping center site on the corner of Princeton-Hightstown and Alexander Roads last spring, detailed his plans for a makeover of the building into a village-like center.
During three-hours of testimony, the board listened to Cyzner’s professionals speak on all aspects of the property, and then voted to continue the hearing to Wednesday, November 10. There was no time left for Planning Board discussion, including the township professionals’ reports on the site.
Cyzner told the board about the type of tenants he was pursuing. “In today’s supermarket industry, they believe bigger is better,” he said. Local supermarkets of 25,000 square feet are “dinosaurs.” However, Cyzner said he is trying to draw “specialty retailers” similar to Balducci’s to the site.
The tenant that appeared to show the most concrete interest is Starbucks, which he said had signed a letter of intent to occupy the 2,000 square-foot end of the building on the Alexander Road side of the project with a possible outside eating area. He said officials were targeting a summer opening for Starbucks.
As remediation and clean up efforts from the contamination from the Shell and Mobile gas stations have already been underway at the site, Cyzner said he is anxious to get approval for the plans and begin construction as soon as possible.
As described at the Site Plan Review Advisory Board hearing, the plans also call for the rear of the former supermarket to be divided into storefronts for businesses that require smaller spaces. Some examples include a dance academy, karate school, or insurance agency office.
Cyzner elaborated during the Planning Board hearing, saying that the “back corridor” has attracted interest from a pilates studio owner, who is interested in a 1,000-square foot space, a real estate school, and a learning center — all of which would be service-oriented businesses that have less of a need for retail frontage in the building.
He also indicated that a shoe repair shop has indicated it is interested in moving into the space currently occupied by the cleaners business.
Cyzner estimated that about 20 storefronts — 22 at most — could occupy space in the shopping center if the Rite Aid space were divided into two storefronts and each of the 20 tenants occupied 2,000 square feet.
All together, the proposed plans include the reduction in square footage from 59,500 to 58,055 square feet by demolition of two back loading areas to make way for a circular road connection around the site for deliveries that would lead out to a proposed new driveway connection to Alexander Road, across from Harris Road.
The plans feature a facelift for the shopping center that includes a cupola on the side of the building closest to Alexander Road.
Plans also included increasing the number of parking spaces from 311 to 342, including eight handicapped parking spaces, and two new “monument” signs — one on the Alexander Road frontage and another on the Route 571 frontage. The signs require waivers, since Cyzner is proposing two 90-square foot signs as high as 15 feet, even though the ordinance only permits one sign at a maximum 30 square feet.
The signage issue seemed to draw the most concern for residents and board members. Chairman Marvin Gardner even commented that the proposed signs did not meet the definition of a monument sign, but instead another type of free-standing sign and should be considered for a waiver based on different criteria.
Cyzner officials argued that the waiver should be given in this case because of the “peculiar circumstances” of the site — that the building is set so far back from the road and had two roadway frontages. Also, in order for the shopping center to succeed, drivers needed to see what types of stores were available as they drove by.
Residents also said they were disappointed a grocery store was likely not a possibility and had many concerns about the safety of the second Alexander Road driveway access, even though Cyzner officials testified that no new traffic would be generated, that it would only be used for delivery, and that driving straight across into Harris Road would be prohibited. They also argued that allowing delivery trucks to drive through the back of the site would prevent their mingling with pedestrians in front. Residents pointed out that since employees and visitors to the service businesses would park in the rear of the site, the “intermingling” would still occur.
Gardner encouraged the developer to seek a merchant similar to a convenience store to help lessen the burden of not having a grocery store. Residents echoed the sentiment. Michael Hornsby said the absence of the grocery store was a “big flaw” and pointed to residents of the Gables development, which houses senior citizens. “I think they depended on it,” he said. “I don’t know what they do now.”
