By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — The Township Committee has expressed serious concerns about the latest plan for a 125-acre transit village.
The project is to feature a light rail stop, retail shops, townhouses and apartments that are intended to revitalize the Delaware River waterfront and enhance the township’s destination appeal.
At its Monday meeting, the committee questioned Jeffrey Albert, who represented Bordentown Waterfront Community LLC along with the group’s attorney, Michael Gross. Committee members raised concerns about the viability of the project in light of the current economy, and in particular the group’s plan to develop in phases and begin with the apartment buildings, leaving commercial space for later.
“It’s really not a transit village,” Mayor William Morelli said of phase I of the project. “It’s just box apartment buildings and I’m concerned — hopefully we’ll get to phase II, because we have to get the commercial (property) in.”
The presentation began with Mr. Albert’s request that the township change language in the redevelopment plan added after negotiations and which would prohibit much of the work they planned to do. In phase I, the developers plan five multi-family buildings, a recreation area with a pool, and an L-shaped building framing Burlington Street and the entranceway.
While the committee ultimately agreed to the requested changes, which will next go before the Planning Board, Mr. Albert faced a number of questions and plenty of criticism on other aspects of the project.
He appeared before the committee at the request of Mayor Morelli, who said he wanted to know how the project had changed since the committee last saw it two years ago. Mr. Albert said the differences in the building plan are minor.
“We really are substantially similar in almost every material respect to the plan we showed you,” Mr. Albert said.
The county has replaced a plan for a roundabout at the entrance of the complex and Burlington Street with a T-intersection and moved it slightly south. That move squeezes out the retail space that had been planned for the first phase of the project, pushing it back to the second phase.
“When you first came here we talked about the promenade, we talked about access to the riverfront, you talked about putting commercial in there, and I’m having a hard time with apartment buildings across from apartment buildings, because that doesn’t gain us anything,” said Committeeman Bruce Hill.
Mr. Alpert said nothing has changed, and that those items will be included in future phases.
“These things cannot be developed en masse,” he said. “We can’t get there financially and physically until some of these other areas get developed first.
“The only type of residential real estate that has any degree of success at all right now is apartments… We don’t want a delaminating ‘for rent’ sign out on Route 130 just to fulfill a requirement.”
Deputy Mayor James Cann raised concerns about the financial viability of the project, especially given that subsequent phases of the project will be triggered by the successes of those previous.
“I had some real concerns,” he said, “and now that I’ve read (your research) I have even more concerns. The demographic you have targeted is basically the young demographic, the demographic that is being hit the hardest by this recession.”
Mr. Albert acknowledged the change in the market since the development group commissioned market research.
“A lot has changed since then, there’s no question about it,” he said. “And we are trying to adapt.”
The committee brought up the possibility the buildings could be unsuccessful and kill the rest of project. When asked by Mr. Hill if the corporation would agree to demolish apartment buildings should they be left languishing, Mr. Albert said it would.
Bordentown Waterfront Community LLC is a joint venture of Princewood Properties LLC, of Princeton; Buckingham Partners LLC, of Haddonfield; and Arsenal Real Estate Funds LP, of Morristown.
The property is at the southern end of the township, and the development is intended to provide a “gateway” into Bordentown.
The site, a former shipyard, is a state-designated brownfield, a vacant, contaminated industrial site. In 2002, Conectiv Energy made an informal proposal for a $400 million, 550-megawatt plant to be built along the Delaware River. However, the Township Committee shelved the project in the face of strong community opposition.
In April 2007, representatives from the developer laid out the goals of the redevelopment project: creating a waterfront area for Bordentown Township residents that would also serve as a transit hub providing access to other parts of the tri-state area.
The RiverLine train, which runs from Trenton to Camden with a stop in Bordentown City, is something the developer focused on, and New Jersey Transit has since approved a stop at the development.
The original concept plan also included a potential 12,000 square feet of retail space clustered in one section that would bring an old-fashioned “Main Street” feel, featuring light retail on the street level and housing above. The plan would incorporate a parking deck that would keep cars accessible, but minimize their visual impact from the front of the townhouses, creating more green open space in the front of the properties.

