Princeton Nursing Home proposed to be converted into 34 apartments.
By: Jennifer Potash
A local developer’s proposal to convert the Princeton Nursing Home on Quarry Street to condominiums appears to have strong neighborhood support.
The Princeton Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment will hear a request Thursday by J. Robert Hillier, the architect and developer, to renovate the former school building, located in the John-Witherspoon neighborhood, to house 34 one- and two-bedroom condominiums.
The project requires several variances, including a use variance for increased density.
Lance Liverman, a Witherspoon Street resident who owns two properties on Quarry Street, said Mr. Hillier held several neighborhood meetings with the residents.
"I think the project is pretty exciting," he said. "The majority of the neighborhood is supporting him on this."
In operation since 1968 at Quarry Street, the nursing home will move to new quarters on Bunn Drive in Princeton Township in the fall. Mr. Hillier said he is under contract with the nursing home’s owner to develop the project, if granted approval by the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The new development would be called The Waxwood, after the late Howard B. Waxwood, who served as principal of the former Witherspoon School and was instrumental in developing the Princeton Plan, which desegregated the Princeton school system.
The condominiums would comprise 31 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units. The plans show several gardens, some intended for the residents’ use and others for the neighborhood.
The condos would be priced in "the low $200,000 range," Mr. Hillier has said.
The site is 62,290 square feet, but borough zoning ordinances require 89,600 square feet for 34 residential units.
The application claims there will be much less activity at the site compared to the current nursing home use of 119 beds, a full staff and daily truck deliveries.
A traffic study conducted by Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart Inc., a planning, transportation and urban design firm in New York City, found the peak morning traffic at the site would be 15 vehicles, compared to 22 for the nursing home. The evening rush hour at the condominiums would have 18 vehicles, compared to 20 for the nursing home.
The proposed condominiums would not increase traffic on local streets as the development would have two-way access on Quarry Street and access from adjacent Maclean Street, according to the traffic analysis.
The plans call for a 51-space parking lot, with five visitors’ spaces set aside.
Mr. Hillier and Princeton Borough reached an agreement last year about the developer’s affordable-housing contribution for the project. Three affordable housing units will be provided, Mayor Marvin Reed said.
One of those will be a moderate-income unit as requested by the borough, which will cost more to build than the lower-income unit envisioned by Mr. Hillier. The borough will split the difference in that added cost with Mr. Hillier, Mayor Reed said. The difference is between $20,000 and $30,000 and will be paid from the borough’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the mayor said.
Mr. Hillier intends to establish a foundation that will cover the down payment for buyers who have lived at least 10 years in the John-Witherspoon neighborhood, or are the offspring of such residents, Mayor Reed said.
During the Borough Council’s planning process for the nearby Shirley Court and Maclean Street affordable-housing development, members of council and borough residents were dismayed that the units, under state Council on Affordable Housing regulations, could not be set aside for borough residents.
"We’re very pleased with how the project will preserve the Witherspoon School and strengthen the neighborhood," Mayor Reed said.
Mr. Liverman praised Mr. Hillier for being so responsive to the community’s concerns about the former school property.
"He said from the beginning if this wasn’t what the neighborhood wanted, then he wouldn’t go ahead with it," Mr. Liverman said. During the design process, Mr. Hillier reduced the number of condominiums following concerns raised by the residents, Mr. Liverman said.
The plans call for "a faithful restoration" of the school building, such as returning the windows to the original dimensions.