Intercap Holdings CEO Steve Goldin revealed more in-depth plans he is proposing for the Princeton Junction train station area, which include proposals for 250 senior citizen condos and townhouses, 450 market-rate condos and townhouses, and 144 affordable housing units on his company’s 25 acres on Washington Road.##M:[more]##
The plans, including renderings and visuals, were presented to more than 200 residents at the Hyatt on May 31. Jim Constantine, of Looney Ricks Kiss, a planning firm with offices in Princeton, recapped the main points of feedback that Intercap officials say they have received from West Windsor residents, including protection of the existing neighborhoods of Sherbrook Estates and Berrien City, creation of West Windsor’s own Main Street, relief of traffic congestion, increasing parking at the train station, creating a large community gathering space, and doing all of the improvements in a way that West Windsor resident wouldn’t be footing the bill.
With regard to Main Street, Constantine said, the power substation, which is almost the height of a five-story building, currently is the most dominant feature. “Drive-through” conditions currently set the atmosphere for Route 571, especially near the Wallace/Cranbury Road intersection. It’s currently all about cars speeding up and slowing down, and it’s not comfortable for pedestrians to walk, Constantine said. Instead, ideas include bringing in specialty retail establishments — not big box stores — to line the streets with anchors at each end. “If you look at the north end, you have the power substation and the PNC Bank,” Constantine said. “At the south end, you have the Acme plaza. In between, you have the ability to fill in the Main Street.”
The beginning of the revitalization of the Main Street is already happening, he points out, saying that the former Al’s Garage and Chicken Holiday have already been approved by the township Zoning Board for new buildings that pull up to the street for a Starbucks and Pharmacy, to begin to create the walkable Main Street.
“What we need to do is focus across the street,” Constantine said. He said a slight realignment of Wallace road that does not impact Schlumberger’s operation or building, which would create a band of land in front of the power substation where “we can actually screen out and create new, wider buildings that create the architectural identity and help landmark this, and then enhance the public space down at the corner of the PNC Bank.”
At the other end, he suggested tearing down the strip mall buildings and placing the same uses — a grocery store and retail space — and redesigning them “in a way that they actually frame the community green space.”
“At the center of it all, we have suggested a kiosk on the green, where young and old can gather,” Constantine said. And, “incrementally and organically over time, there could be infill buildings in addition to existing buildings, and transformation of the street.”
Heading toward the train station, Constantine says the proposal is to increase the number of parking spaces for West Windsor residents from 1,”000 to 2,”000. All together, however, the current 3,”500 parking spaces could increase to 6,”000, and be strategically located around the redevelopment site.
He says the planned strategy is to assign as much parking as possible for West Windsor residents on the New York-bound side of the tracks. There are 604 spaces currently in the Wallace Road lot, and nothing is being proposed to be changed.
Crossing the tracks, the next lot is the 688 spaces on Vaughn Drive. Instead, the proposal is to place a five-level elevated parking structure in the existing surface parking lot that is owned by the township. “Then, there would be some additional parking structures placed on New Jersey Transit land,” including a 730-space structure opposite the Wallace lot, on the other side of the track, which would be held to three levels. There also would be some expansion of the surface parking lots along the Dinky line.
In order to pay for the parking structures, Constantine says, “we’re proposing to use economic development via class-A office spaces being the primary drivers,” he said. These buildings would be located in the Vaughn Drive lot the on the township property, which would be used as a liner, so that the parking garage is not visible from Vaughn Drive. Going along Vaughn Drive, the New Jersey Transit properties would be filled in with some additional office space, and some of the parking structures would be shared between commuters and office works in that location, Constantine says. “I think we can target firms that are looking to relocate from New York that would require close proximity to a train station,” Constantine says. Those building would be LEED certified, he added.
Constantine also said residents on the west side of the track want to have an enhancement of emergency services, so the proposal includes a small EMS facility for one fire truck and one ambulance located on the public plaza.
With regard to relieving traffic, Constantine says that where the Vaughn Drive connector crosses the Intercap site, the proposal is to develop a central gathering space at the center. He said the proposal includes keeping the existing Dinky crossing, but adding additional circulation connectivity to help disperse traffic by providing multiple access alternatives. Plans also include to provide a bike and pedestrian connection over the Route 571 bridge to connect both sides of the track.
And, in addition to the public green at the Acme site and the corner of Wallace and Cranbury roads, a significant public space for larger community gatherings would be placed at the center of the Intercap site, including a pavilion, ampitheatre, and a fountain. The space would also connect to trails the township has been working on.
“At the center, we envision a pavilion and performance space stage connected to an ampitheatre that can hold both large and small-scale events,” said Constantine. “At the end closest to the Dinky, there’s a water feature. Beyond that, you see a pavilion which would be a terrific home for the farmer’s market. At the opposite end, the space is punctuated by a kiosk commercial flower market.”
“Perhaps the most striking architectural features are the two curved brick buildings with towers that flank that space and create a gateway from Washington Road,” he added.
The buildings enclosing the large community space on the Intercap site would consist of restaurants and cafes, with upper-floor condos on top, which he say would “really help make the space feel alive at night.”
These units would appeal to single and couples who are 30 years old or younger and are typically childless. The site also features quiet, interior courtyards to appeal more to people who are 50 years or older and generally empty nesters. Along the side streets, leading from the main space, depictions in the visual presentation showed a series of garden courtyards. “At the end of the street, we switch to a different building type by mixing some townhomes in so that there is a lot of variety in the character as we move around the neighborhood,” Constantine said.
Goldin explained the breakdown of the units to residents. Starting with Main Street, there would be a combined total of 157,”000 square feet of retail space for cafes, restaurants, and shops. There would be 85,”000 square feet of office space, and the required 32 affordable housing units.
On the township and New Jersey Transit sites, there would be a total of 670,”000 square feet of office space in multiple buildings, none of which would be taller than five stories, Goldin said. There would also be 62,”000 square feet of cafes, restaurants, and shops, and the emergency services building. That part of the site would generate the need for 120 affordable units.
Then, on the Intercap site, there would be 73,”000 square feet of cafes, restaurants, and shops. Then, there would be 250 senior condos and townhomes, and the required generation of 144 senior citizen affordable housing units.
So all together, the entire redevelopment area would feature 755,”000 square feet of office space, 292,”000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 250 senior units, 144 senior affordable housing units, 450 market-rate townhomes, and 152 non-senior affordable housing units.
“For those of you who are concerned about taxes, you’re looking at 602 units of housing potential for children,” Goldin said. However, he pointed to the .28 children generated for each housing unit — agreed upon by both school board member and de factor demographer Stan Katz and Rutgers professor and demographic expert David Listokin when discussing the amount of school children they estimated would be generated by transit-oriented development near the train station.
Goldin then pointed to school absorption numbers he says were generated by the school board. In September, 9,”607 are estimated to fill district schools, which have a capacity of 9,”800, he showed. In September, 2009, that number is expected to rise to 9,”625, and then it is expected to drop to 9,”507 by September, 2010. Every year after that, it is also expected to decline, the numbers showed. In 2012, the number of available seats will be 634, which, using the estimated .28 school children per unit, would allow for 2,”264 homes to be built without having an impact on the district’s capacity.
“For those of you who are concerned about taxes, you’re looking at 602 units of housing potential for children,” Goldin said. However, he pointed to the .28 children generated for each housing unit — agreed upon by both school board member and de factor demographer Stan Katz and Rutgers professor and demographic expert David Listokin when discussing the amount of school children they estimated would be generated by transit-oriented development near the train station.
Goldin then pointed to school absorption numbers he says were generated by the school board. In September 2008, 9,”607 are estimated to fill district schools, which have a capacity of 9,”800, he showed. In September, 2009, that number is expected to rise to 9,”625, and then it is expected to drop to 9,”507 by September, 2010. Every year after that, it is also expected to decline, the numbers showed. In 2012, the number of available seats will be 634, which, using the estimated .28 school children per unit, would allow for 2,”264 homes to be built without having an impact on the district’s capacity.
However, Goldin says his proposal would only bring in 602 homes that could potentially bring children in, and that development of those homes would come in phases anyway.
He then compared his plans for the redevelopment area with the current as-of-right, or what the area is currently zoned for, and what could be built in the coming years. “Right now, you could build 1.7 million square feet of commercial development,” he says. “The key thing is it’s nearly all office space. Office space generates the most traffic at peak hours in the morning and the evening. And the township has no control over when that development will happen.”
Under the as-of-right, and with all of that commercial space being built, it would generate the need for 300 affordable housing units, around the same estimated numbers Goldin is projecting.
“If we do nothing as a community, 1.7 million square feet of office space is going to be built, we’re going to have the traffic problems, we’re not going to have a way to capture that incremental value through tax increment financing to create public improvements, and we’re going to end up with the same 300 affordable housing units,” Goldin said. “So one way or another, those 300 affordable housing units are coming here.”
Further, Goldin said, the proposed amendments to the state Council on Affordable Housing regulations state that building housing within a half-mile of a train station would give a municipality a 33 percent credit, which means there would be one-third fewer units needed to be built in that town, and the regulations give credits for demolition. Because he is proposing demolition on his own property, he says this would generate 31 units for the town.
With West Windsor’s projected requirement of 830 affordable units over the next 10 years under the proposed regulations, and with the demolition credit of 30, and the 100 credits the township would receive from the 300 units near the train station in Goldin’s proposal, Goldin says “the redevelopment takes care of 430 units, and we only actually have to build 300.”
Carson Bise, of TischlerBise firm a consulting firm based in Bethesda, MD, was hired by Goldin to perform a fiscal impact analysis study of redevelopment at the train station. He told residents that the project, as Goldin proposes it, would generate $31 million in new revenue for the township, and would create $21 million in operating capital costs. “That gives you a net cumulative surplus of $9.6 million,” Bise said. “Over a 20-year period, that equates to an average annual surplus of approximately $481,”000 annually.”
Bise said that the school district could expect to see $109 million in revenue with redevelopment creating $6 million in operating costs, leaving a surplus of $3 million. On an average annual basis, that would equate to $5.1 million, he said.
“When you combine the two, you have a cumulative surplus of approximately $112 million,” which translates into an annual surplus of $5.6 million. That available $5.6 million above expenditures can be used to fund bonds for tax increment financing, he said. “Obviously the revenues generated by this development project are enough to offset the service costs to the township and school district,” Bise said.
Tax increment financing allows a government to allocate the new tax revenues realized from a proposed project to fund necessary improvements, in which TIF bonds are sold to fund these improvements, explained Fran Busby, of Bank of America, who also presented during the event.
