The size of the proposed hotel, conference center and office park which would be situated off Route 1 south of Meadow Road has been cut by about 55,000 square feet.
By: David M. Campbell
WEST WINDSOR The Planning Board reacted favorably to a scaled-down conceptual plan to build a Hilton Hotel and office park off Route 1, just south of Meadow Road, which would enhance the township’s green belt.
The proposed 207,287-square-foot project includes a six-story, 159-room Hilton Hotel with adjoining 6,300-square-foot conference center; a pair of two-story office buildings totaling 47,136 square feet each; and two single-story offices of 11,013 square feet each.
The new proposal is approximately 55,000 square feet smaller than the scheme brought before the Planning Board more than a year ago. About 44 percent of the nearly 63-acre site has been donated to the township’s green belt by the developer, Philadelphia-based Switzenbaum Realty Capital.
The formal proposal, which Switzenbaum brought before the board in December 1999, included nine buildings, which has been reduced to five in the current plan. Parking for 764 cars, which would have been dispersed throughout the property, has now been reduced to 686 in a more compact design.
According to Township Landscape Architect Dan Dobromilsky, the entire site was earmarked by the township as potential greenbelt, but the pared-down proposal, which shows smaller, more centralized development than the proposal last year, represents a reasonable compromise short of the community purchasing the property itself.
The open-space acreage donated by the developer would help create a contiguous greenbelt through the township, said developer Sam Switzenbaum.
The new plan offers a more efficient, safer collector roadway system, Planning Consultant John Madden noted in a recent memorandum.
The Planning Board gave a favorable reception to the new design. Mr. Switzenbaum said he hopes to begin construction in the spring or summer of 2002.
Board Vice Chair Gretchen Fahrenbruch thanked Mr. Switzenbaum for coming back for another concept review with a more favorable proposal, and said, "I really appreciate that they’ve moved the hotel," which preserves greenbelt land and protects Duck Pond Run.
Board member Charles Morgan said he was impressed by Mr. Switzenbaum’s former proposal, and he found the latest plan "very attractive."
Mr. Switzenbaum reaffirmed his commitment to institute a voluntary open-space room fee if other area hotels also participated. Last year, Mr. Morgan, as part of his effort to enlist township hotels to help raise money for open space, asked Mr. Switzenbaum to take part in the program, and the developer said he would.