It seems that West Windsor officials may have actually taken Steve Goldin up on his very publicized offer to negotiate.
West Windsor government officials have held a series of closed session meetings to discuss the InterCap litigation, and according to Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, the township is, in fact, in negotiations.
The news comes as a pending trial looms on the horizon in front of Judge Linda Feinberg in state Superior Court. That date has not yet been set.
“We are working with them to see what we can accomplish before we move to the next step,” said Hsueh. “If we can work out a deal, I would rather not continue this litigation. But again, we’re still working on it, and we’ll see what happens.”
Details of the recent closed sessions held by the Township Council and Planning Board are not subject to public review. But InterCap Holdings, which filed a lawsuit challenging West Windsor’s redevelopment designation for the 350-acre area around the Princeton Junction train station, has been calling on West Windsor officials to negotiate for months.
InterCap is not the only litigant listed in the lawsuit against the township. Five other parties — including transportation giant Amtrak — joined InterCap’s lawsuit in August. Those property owners include two owners of property in the Ellsworth Center — Ellsworth Realty Associates, which owns 19 Cranbury Road, and Won Chang Realty, which owns 33 Cranbury Road; the Avante site at 70 Washington Road, which is owned by Far Sighted Investments; and the parking facility at 43 Station Drive, owned by Sidetrax Inc.
The lawsuit involves InterCap’s challenge of the designation of the township’s 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area as “in need of redevelopment.” A ruling in the developer’s favor could, in the worst case scenario, void the township’s redevelopment plan.
Some residents have recently criticized Goldin, particularly for taking a position in Washington, D.C., as the director of real estate at the Washington Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In published reports, Goldin has detailed his plans to jump-start development there on some of the region’s most valuable properties near Metrorail stations, including transit-oriented development.
West Windsor’s attempt at thwarting a trial was shot down on June 22, when the Appellate Division of the State Superior Court denied the township’s interlocutory appeal to do so.
The township had filed the motion to the Appellate Division to question whether InterCap had a right to challenge the designation of the area in need of redevelopment since it had not filed a motion for three-and-a-half years and then participated in the redevelopment process, township attorneys said. The motion was filed after Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ordered that both sides prepare for a trial on the matter, and then re-affirmed her decision when West Windsor appealed.
In recent months, InterCap Holdings CEO Goldin said InterCap had submitted a number of settlement offers, none of which received a response from the township. A few months ago, Goldin ran an advertising campaign calling on residents to urge the township to come to a settlement. That campaign drew some comment from township officials at the time, who called the ads misleading, hinting that the campaign has hurt InterCap’s position at the negotiation table.
InterCap attorneys have already said that its efforts will not stop at invalidating the redevelopment plan. Nullifying the redevelopment plan would pave the way for InterCap to seek to have its previous zoning also voided. If the redevelopment plan or process is invalidated, attorney Richard J. Hoff Jr., of the Bisgaier Hoff law firm of Gibbsboro, has said the developer will re-file a previous lawsuit that challenged the old commercial zoning of the property.
Goldin has declined comment on the negotiations.
