Prompt action asked on downtown parking garage

Borough Council may seek developers’ proposals

By: Jennifer Potash
   Princeton Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi will ask the Borough Council tonight to send out requests for proposals for the design of the proposed downtown parking garage.
   Mr. Bruschi said Friday that he anticipates a discussion on the "RFP" with the council and hopes the governing body will grant the approval to get the documents out to potential architectural firms.
   In July, the Borough Council approved a development plan calling for 483 parking spaces in a four-level garage — three floors above ground and one underground — on the Park & Shop lot off Spring Street and on top of a building on the Tulane Street lot. Also included are a public square, shops, apartments, a possible food market and several pedestrian walkways.
   Borough officials have said the garage project should proceed in tandem with the construction of the new Princeton Public Library to minimize the effect on the downtown.
   With the Princeton Public Library completing construction-bid documents and planning to begin construction at the end of the year, Mr. Bruschi said he wants the borough’s garage project to keep up with the pace.
   "I am concerned that we are not closing the gap with the library fast enough," he said.
   The borough wants the requests for proposals to be separated, first with a proposed site plan, followed by specific drawings for the proposed buildings, material types, and then the detailed construction documents, Mr. Bruschi said.
   While the borough is open to new ideas "on things we may have missed," said Mr. Bruschi, the council-approved development plan is firm.
   "We don’t want to reinvent the wheel," he said.
   The borough has received about a dozen inquiries from firms about the project, Mr. Bruschi said.
   If the council gives the go-ahead to send out the RFP, Mr. Bruschi said he would expect them back in early October.
   A staff committee would review the proposals and forward a "handful" to Borough Council by early November, Mr. Bruschi said.
   With that schedule, the borough could be out to bid for a contractor by spring, Mr. Bruschi said.
   Borough staff are also working on how to finance the garage, Mr. Bruschi said.