Three-phase project would change the face of central business district
By: Jennifer Potash
Barring any last-minute hitches, the developer’s agreement for the downtown parking garage is slated for a vote tonight by the Princeton Borough Council.
Some council members said they are still in the information-gathering phase, but are prepared to cast a vote tonight.
Councilman Roger Martindell, who voted against an ordinance Dec. 17 authorizing the sale of $13.5 million in bonds for the project and has been opposed to a garage at the proposed location, indicated he will keep an open mind.
"I will wait and see all the arguments for and against," he said. "I can always be persuaded."
With a few questions remaining, Councilman David Goldfarb said once he has those answers, he will be prepared to vote in favor of the agreement.
"As those issues are cleared up, I intend to vote for it," he said.
Council member Joseph O’Neill said he also intends to cast a yes vote.
"I’ve heard all sides," he said.
Councilwoman Wendy Benchley, a staunch advocate of the garage, said she is awaiting a final report by the borough’s garage consultant to ensure the borough will not be overcharged for the project.
Council President Mildred Trotman and Councilwoman Peggy Karcher could not be reached for comment Monday.
In the event of a tie, Mayor Marvin Reed said he will not step in and cast the deciding vote.
"I would insist the council keep working at it until there was a solid majority," Mayor Reed said. "I don’t think that’s a good move to adopt it by that close a vote."
The developer Nassau HKT Associates, LLC is a partnership forged by Nassau Capital Associates, LLC of Vandeventer Avenue and S. Hekemian Kasparian Troast, LLC, a Paramus-based construction company.
The development would be completed in three phases.
Phase One is encompassed by the municipal Park & Shop lot, bounded by Witherspoon and Spring streets. The lot would be developed with a 500-car parking garage that would include a level of underground parking. Screening the garage would be a five-story building with a restaurant and small retail shops on the ground floor and 24 apartments on the upper floors. A 15,000-square-foot plaza, containing trees, tables and benches and a pergola, would fill in the space between the mixed-use building and Witherspoon Street.
The garage is slated to open in December 2003, followed by the mixed-use building in June 2004 and the plaza by December 2004.
Phase Two, to take place on the borough’s metered Tulane Street lot, would contain a five-story building with a food market on the ground floor and 53 apartments on the upper floors. A small plaza would be located to the rear of the building near the Princeton Record Exchange. This building phase would be completed by late 2005.
The third phase of the project, on the small parking lot accessible off a driveway from Witherspoon Street, is still undefined. The developers have the right to submit a proposal to the borough up to two years after the completion of Phase Two.
The borough authorized $13.5 million for its share of the project the parking garage, plaza and new walkways in the Dec. 17 bond ordinance.
Under the agreement, the borough would own the garage building and the land and Nassau HKT Associates would own the two mixed-use buildings. The borough would lease the land under the mixed-used buildings to the firm for 99 years.
Borough officials have said the project does not require tax support and relies on a mix of land-lease payments, parking income and payments in lieu of taxes. The project’s financing accounts for the roughly $500,000 in parking revenue generated by the two surface parking lots the borough counts on each year for its operating budget, officials said.
The borough embarked on the project three years ago to add more parking downtown to meet the needs of residents and merchants. Following suggestions by the public at numerous meetings, many sponsored by Princeton Future, the nonprofit group seeking holistic development solutions for the downtown, more rental housing, a food market and more public green space were added to the project.
While the garage originally may have been portrayed as the solution to the downtown parking woes, borough officials now concede the garage will help but will not be the sole answer.
Garage opponents argue the development is too massive and will end up costing the taxpayers too much money.
Some downtown merchants fear the construction phases, with a temporary lack of parking and some road closures, will drive customers to the suburban malls with acres of free parking spaces.
An opposition group, Concerned Citizens of Princeton, proposed an alternative parking shelf and plaza scheme for the Park & Shop lot. An analysis by Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi and Tim Haas, the borough’s garage consultant, found that the plan is not financially feasible.

