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Princeton planners approve expansion of Nassau Inn

By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
   The Nassau Inn has received the go-ahead for a long-planned major expansion and renovation project on Palmer Square in downtown Princeton from the Regional Planning Board of Princeton.
   The expansion is to include construction of a six-story 39,000-square-foot addition to the hotel along Hulfish Street, a three-story 5,700-square-foot building at the site of the current one-story Lindt chocolate store on Palmer Square West, and a major renovation of its current facilities, according to plans approved by the Planning Board last Thursday.
   Nassau Inn sought, and was granted, three zoning variances: a sixth story to the new addition when Princeton Borough permits only five stories maximum; a maximum height to the structure of 66.85 feet when borough zoning permits only a 65 foot maximum height; and the waiving of a borough requirement that it construct 69 additional parking spaces to accommodate the expansion.
   Princeton Planning Director Lee Solow, in a presentation on the project before the Planning Board, said Nassau Inn had received approval for the zoning variances in 1998 but they had subsequently lapsed.
   Mr. Solow said, according to plans submitted by Nassau Inn, that the top four floors of the new Hulfish Street structure would house 40 new hotel rooms taking up 20,000 square feet. A 5,500-square-foot basement space in the new structure would be created for the mechanical needs of the hotel; 6,200 square feet of additional retail space would be created on the ground floor, and a 7,100-square-foot ballroom expansion would be housed on the second floor, according to Mr. Solow.
   The new addition would be on a site which currently houses an outdoor courtyard and a loading area for the hotel, Mr. Solow said.
   The new building on the Lindt site would house ground floor retail, a second story meeting space and a top floor exercise space, according to Mr. Solow. Additionally, the renovation of the existing Nassau Inn facilities would include upgrading and enlarging current rooms — resulting in a net reduction from 84 to 52 rooms — plus adding new entrances to the Nassau Inn Taproom, and new outdoor landscaping, Mr. Solow said. With 40 rooms in the new addition, the net increase in total rooms for the hotel would be eight, to 92, he said.
   Mr. Solow said the Princeton Borough Historic Preservation Review Committee had reviewed the Nassau Inn plans and supported them. “They are pleased and satisfied with this current design,” he said.
   Neither Mr. Solow, nor Brian Stankus, a traffic and parking consultant for the Planning Board, expressed any reservations about the plan.
   Thomas M. Letizia, an attorney representing Nassau Inn with the firm Pepper Hamilton, said the plan before the board was “substantially consistent” with plans that board members were presented in January, with “tweaks” based on Historic Preservation Review Committee input.
   Thomas S. Perrino, a principal with Spiezle Architectural Group, an architect for the project, said Nassau Inn’s current open-air loading and trash dock on Hulfish Street would be enclosed, helping to reduce noise and trash smells.
   Mr. Perrino said the pitch of upper floor roofs on the proposed addition, the use of a traditional gable for the upper floor, and other variations would “help to reduce the impression of mass and bulk” of the structure. He presented a computer-generated shadow analysis to show the impact of the structures on the streets of Palmer Square.
   Mr. Perrino said the plan was to make the project environmentally sensitive and efficient, and to have it LEED certified.
   Georges Jacquemart, a traffic and parking consultant to the Nassau Inn with BFJ Planning, said that Palmer Square already had sufficient parking garage capacity to handle the expanded Nassau Inn. Citing statistics he had compiled, Mr. Jacquemart said that as a mixed use development encompassing residential, office and retail uses, “here you take advantage of the fact that the peak demand doesn’t happen at the same time” for each use, meaning there is no need to supply more spaces to go with the expansion.
   Nassau Inn General Manager Lori Rabon said the hotel intended to use off-site modular construction to minimize the length of construction and disruption. Ms. Rabon said the plan was to proceed in three phases: constructing the three-story Lindt building first, then the six-story Hulfish Street addition, and lastly the renovation of the existing Nassau Inn. The plan would be to keep part of the inn operational, with rooms available, at all times throughout the construction, she said.
   ”Realistically we are not talking about beginning until the fourth quarter of 2009,” Ms. Rabon said of construction.
   Travis Linderman, with the MacLean insurance agency on Nassau Street, speaking on behalf of the Borough Merchants for Princeton, said the organization’s board had discussed the Nassau Inn expansion at its most recent meeting and backed it. The upgraded and expanded hotel would help to make downtown Princeton a more attractive destination for visitors, and “is a positive to merchants even though we know the construction will in the short term hurt us,” Mr. Linderman said.
   Planning Board member Marvin Reed called the expansion plan an “excellent design.” Mr. Reed, who was mayor of Princeton Borough at the time of Nassau Inn’s original project approval, said the Nassau Inn had already erected a traffic light at the intersection of Chambers Street and Paul Robeson Place as a condition of approval of its expansion 10 years ago. “We have had 10 years of good usage of those traffic lights,” Mr. Reed said, adding the upgraded and expanded hotel would be a huge boon for the people of Princeton. “We are making a major achievement with what you are doing here,” he said.
   Board members voted unanimously to proceed with the project.
   Following the approval, Ms. Rabon said she was pleased with the vote, but noted more work and other approvals still needed to be obtained, with a developer’s agreement also needing to be worked out with the borough before construction could commence.
   Ms. Rabon said there was no single reason why the project didn’t go forward 10 years ago. Hurdles were encountered in negotiating a developer’s agreement, among other things, “and then 9/11 occurred” with its negative impact on businesses, she said. “It just really wasn’t the right time,” she said.
   Ilene Cutroneo, Planning Board coordinator, said following the vote, a final draft of the resolution on the decision would need to be drafted and reviewed by staff. Once it had been signed off on by staff, then it would be placed on the board agenda for final approval.