The academy had hoped to begin the planning review process in June.
By: Jane Karlicek
The Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart won’t file a development plan for the former Our Lady of Princeton site until next month, according to Headmaster Olen Kalkus.
The academy previously announced that it would file the plan for review by the Princeton Regional Planning Board in early June.
"We’re trying to put it all together," Mr. Kalkus said Wednesday.
After the submission, the academy is hoping to get the plan reviewed by the Planning Board "as soon as possible," he said.
The board is scheduled to meet July 6 and July 20, and then not until Sept. 7.
If the academy files a general concept plan, the township staff’s review would take less time than if a formal site plan application is filed. The board’s Site Plan Review Advisory Board would also have to take part in the review process, before the full board, if a formal site plan application is filed.
The Princeton Academy, which has been using space at the former Our Lady of Princeton site under a two-year lease, announced at the end of May that it had acquired a purchase option that expires Sept. 30. That announcement came hours after state Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg upheld the Planning Board’s December decision to deny an application, based on a lack of jurisdiction, for a 301-unit continuing-care retirement community at the former convent site at the corner of Drakes Corner Road and The Great Road.
Princeton Lifestyles, the current property owner, gave the school until Sept. 30 to obtain all the necessary Planning Board approvals, as well as the money to purchase the property.
"It’s a tight schedule," Mr. Kalkus said.
The Princeton Academy has raised $1.5 million in gifts and pledges so far toward the potential purchase, plus pledges of $400,000 over the course of the next five years, Mr. Kalkus said. It needs $2.5 million to secure bank financing for an approximate $8 million purchase, he said.
"The fund-raising is going really well," he said. "The numbers change on a daily basis. We’re really close to a contract (with the property owner) right now, but negotiations are ongoing."
The school also also has received challenge grants, Mr. Kalkus said. The school will receive a $1 million challenge grant from a "major foundation" if it can raise enough funds to close without any bank financing, he said.
In addition, Mr. Kalkus said the school has received a more recent challenge grant from an anonymous donor. If the school succeeds in raising $250,000 by the end of June, that amount will be matched by the donor, he explained.
"I’m confident we’ll have the finances in order to purchase the property," Mr. Kalkus said. "I’m highly confident that it’s going to happen."
The Princeton Academy had 38 students this past school year and is expecting 90 to 100 students in September, Mr. Kalkus said. The academy is envisioned as a brother school to the nearby Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls’ school.
"The property itself is just beautiful," Mr. Kalkus said. "We’re incredibly fortunate. I really believe it’s going to happen."
The academy will include playing fields and a gymnasium in its plan. The site development plan will show the gymnasium but it’s something that would constructed "down the line," Mr. Kalkus said.
"Right now we need to purchase and renovate," he said.