A 750,000-square-foot office and hotel complex received an initial approval for a Route 1 site near MarketFair.
By: David M. Campbell
WEST WINDSOR — The Site Plan Review Advisory Board gave unanimous approval Monday night to a nearly 750,000-square-foot hotel and business complex proposed for the northeast corner of Route 1 and Meadow Road, between Carnegie Center and Meadow Lane Apartments.
The proposed development, called The Palladium, will complement two other major projects proposed for the area — a 160-room Hilton Garden Inn with 168,000-square-foot office complex, and The Square at West Windsor, a 28.5-acre shopping center that will include a 216,667-square-foot Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse.
The Palladium would rise directly across Route 1 from MarketFair.
The developer of the site, Steiner Development LLC, is proposing a mixed-use development with offices and a hotel with restaurant, comprised of four office buildings totaling about 600,000 square feet, and a 160-room hotel and 120-seat restaurant totaling about 160,000 square feet. The site includes about 2,168 parking spaces.
The site will be crossed by the soon-to-be-built Meadow Road overpass, and an extension road will cut the property in half. The extension is expected to be paid for by public Transportation Improvement District funds, although one advisory board member questioned the developer’s lawyer why the developer was not expected to pay for the roadway extension.
According to Township Planning Consultant John Madden, the general design theme of the site has been “significantly altered” since the original concept plan was presented to the township in 1998.
These alterations include the incorporation of a courtyard linking three of the office buildings to the north of the Meadow Road extension, similar to one at Carnegie Center; increased setback of buildings from Route 1; and removal of parking decks from the site to reduce visual impact along Route 1.
In a memo to the board, read at the meeting, Mr. Madden noted that pedestrian connections within the development and between adjacent sites “are seriously lacking.”
The current proposal does not include sidewalks along Meadow Road, nor does it identify pedestrian connections linking the Palladium with Carnegie Center, Meadow Lane Apartments and the planned Square at West Windsor, Mr. Madden said in his memo.
Also, he said, the proposal should be amended to show the relationship of a proposed access drive on Meadow Road to proposed access to the Hilton Garden Inn and office park, which was granted preliminary site plan approval by the Planning Board in March.
Mr. Madden said the planned design of the hotel on the site, which he called the “gateway to the development,” is one which “should be given special attention.” The current architecture, he said, gave the hotel an “institutional” look, one that did not appear to favorably complement the site, an assessment echoed by some board members.
Board member Ted Begun said, “I think this is a spectacular project,” but added that he would like to see “something more majestic.”
“I think it will be a great asset to our community, but I am not at all impressed with the visual,” said board member Louise Costas.
The project is expected to go before the full Planning Board, probably in late June.
But advisory board Chairman Elliott Eisenberg said the developer will have to describe how the proposed design will meet the affordable-housing requirements of the zone. Based on the current proposal, Steiner Development LLC would be responsible for providing approximately 114 low- and moderate-income units on the site.
Mr. Eisenberg also said the Planning Board will have to resolve a right-of-way for the proposed Meadow Road Extension.