A municipally sponsored development in downtown Princeton

A municipally sponsored development in downtown Princeton, New Jersey, is converting two borough-owned parking lots into a $27 million mixed-use project that includes a new outdoor plaza next to Princeton’s new public library. The borough and a developer, Nassau HKT Urban Renewal Associates, last year kicked off the first phase of the 2.3-acre project — construction of a 500-car parking garage, which was scheduled for completion as this issue of New Urban News went to press. Partly shielding the garage from view will be a new four-story building containing ground-floor retail and 22 apartments above. Another building will contain 55 apartments in four stories on top of ground-floor retail. Tying everything together will be a 15,000-square-foot public plaza — situated next to the library, which is being built on the site of a previous library. Completion of the library is anticipated this spring. “This whole mixed-use concept is a very good way to keep the keep the vitality of the town,” says Robert Bruschi, borough administrator. “We think the housing will be gobbled up fast.” Twelve of the apartments are reserved for households with low or moderate incomes. The garage, containing twice the capacity of the previous parking lots, “hopefully will help mitigate the continuing parking crunch” in the 1.8-square-mile borough, Bruschi says. The borough has a population of 14,000, which expands considerably during the workday. The public plaza will have tables and chairs so that people can eat outdoors. Both the borough and the developer invested in the project. A group of residents and merchants, Concerned Citizens of Princeton, unsuccessfully tried to block the project in court, contending that the redevelopment statute was meant for use in blighted areas, not for properties that already generated substantial revenue.