The Renaissance Town Center project has been approved for a 23-acre parcel of land off Route 130 south in North Brunswick.
On May 11, the township Planning Board heard an application by Kaplan Cos. for 213,000 square feet of retail space, including a Walgreens and a bank building in Phase 1, and six additional retail buildings, a potential day care center and an office building envisioned for subsequent phases as part of the planned-unit development.
According to testimony during the meeting, the center will have a main-street design that incorporates pedestrian- and bike-friendly elements, as well as sustainability components such as the use of LED energy-efficient lighting.
“We want to create something on Route 130 that doesn’t feel like a typical strip-shop center,” said architect David Minnow. “We’re trying, really, to make this architecture alive. … We are tying these buildings together and not just have them as floating pad sites.”
In terms of traffic improvements, licensed professional engineer and traffic expert Karl Pehnke said that over the span of the project, there would be a southbound jughandle created for Route 130 to Renaissance Boulevard opposite the primary access into the town center; a northbound Route 130 median and two left-turn lanes; two left-turn lanes, a throughway to Apple Orchard Lane and a right turn onto Route 130 south coming out of Renaissance Boulevard; and a left turn, through-only, and through/right turn coming off Apple Orchard Lane.
“It’s been a long trip since we started three years ago, but we’re proud of what was presented here tonight,” said Jason Kaplan, president of Kaplan Cos. “I think it will be a positive ratable and a positive development for the town.”
Preliminary site plan approval for the full site and final site plan approval for Walgreens and the bank site were approved contingent upon the applicant’s agreement to add berms along Morris Drive opposite the entrances to the residences where landscaping does not exist, breaking up the large parking areas with landscaping, to have at least one bike stand for each building, and to keep similar architecture for all of the buildings.
The development of this property has quite a history. In 1985, Brunswick Manor Associates, which included the Kaplan and Halpern development companies, was bound by a settlement agreement with the township to build a minimum of 1.5 million square feet of nonresidential space to accompany the housing portion of Renaissance.
The developers later dissolved their partnership, and in 2007, K-Land No. 54 LLC filed a civil complaint, claiming the township denied discussions about building on its piece of commercial property based on a zoning discrepancy.
However, the township’s stance was that Kaplan was violating its former partnership with Halpern, and that the developer’s agreement for a commercial development off Route 130 would help offset the tax increases faced by residents resulting from the schoolchildren who would live in the development’s 2,000 homes.
Last September, however, the township reached a settlement agreement with a division of Kaplan Cos. regarding the parcel of land near Renaissance.
There are no plans yet for the 31.62-acre parcel that belongs to Halpern, which is located near the township’s emergency services building off Route 130.
Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].