PRINCETON: School group moving its plans forward

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   The Save Valley Road School community group is making progress in its quest to rescue the almost century old building on Witherspoon Street.
   Their idea is to turn the former school into a community center where nonprofits can rent space at a reasonable cost.
   The group came up with the plan gradually through monthly meetings.
   ”It dawned on us a few months ago that we were being approached by a large number of local nonprofit groups looking for a home,” said Richard Woodbridge, president of the Save Valley Road School group, who is a Valley Road School graduate and former township mayor. “Then we realized that what was organically happening was equivalent to a community center. Princeton is one of the rare towns its size with the borough and township combined that doesn’t have a traditional community center, except for the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center, which is primarily for seniors. Why not? Clearly there is a need.”
   The group has heard from area nonprofits that are looking for space.
   ”The outpouring of interest by nonprofit groups merely underscored a need and the possible adaptive reuse of the historical Valley Road School building is a perfect fit,” said Mr. Woodbridge.
   ”The building is historic and almost 100 years old; it was the first fully integrated school in both towns,” he said. “In fact, the building is so visually attractive that its brick work and style was repeated in the adjacent fire house and then again in the new Township Hall across the street.”
   ”The building represents a part of the community; it represents the history of the community in the 20th century and a place where a lot of people attended and represents some of the architectural diversity of the community,” added Kip Cherry, a group member. “If you look at Mercer Engine 3, you’ll see they chose some of the features from Valley Road School” as well as the design of the new township municipal complex.
   The arch in front of Valley Road School was designed to mimic that of Blair Arch at the corner of Nassau Street and University Place. The same arch is repeated on Princeton High School.
   ”There’s a lot of history that took place in the ‘60s and ‘70s when Valley Road School and Princeton was the center of high technology development in the world,” said Ms. Cherry.
   Saving the building is also green.
   ”Adaptive reuse of old buildings is a desirable, sustainable, all green practice and it can be done at little or no cost to the local taxpayer,” said Mr. Woodbridge. “If we don’t intervene the building will be torn down. The best use would be as a community center. That is why we formed the ‘Valley Road School Community Center Inc.’”
   A 501c3, Save Valley Road School Inc., has been formed for donations.
   ”We’re open for business to take donations that are tax deductible,” said Ms. Cherry, trustee for the account.
   They hope to lease the building from the school board for a nominal fee, but still need approval from the school board.
   ”That’s important. Otherwise the rents could be too high for nonprofits to afford,” said Ms. Cherry. “The idea is that the school board will maintain ownership of the property should they need it in the future. The idea is to land bank school property for future use.”
   For the past few months they been concentrating its efforts on a pro forma, or a review and plan for projected expenses, that will help the group decide how much rent to charge prospective tenants. Rent will equal the anticipated expenses divided by the useable square footage tenants could occupy.
   ”Our goal is to have a rent that is affordable for nonprofits with a minimum amount of overhead,” said Ms. Cherry.
   The group has ideas for two phases to save the building. First, they hope to raise enough money — $150,000 to $300,000 — to make the building comfortable and inhabitable in the short run for two to five years for tenants. The second phase would look for significant funding, such as EDA funding, to bring the building to modern standards.
   There will be three different types of spaces within the building, should their plan be successful. The first will be long-term rental spaces scattered throughout the building; the second will be long-term shared spaces that allow multiple users; the third use will be one-time use allowances.
   ”The idea is not to compete with what’s in town, it is to provide additional spaces to meet the need,” said Ms. Cherry.
   McCarter Theatre has expressed interest for their theater curriculum.
   ”None of the tenants are locked in, they just have expressed interest,” said Ms. Cherry. “We don’t have the authority to do that yet and we have to negotiate a long-term lease with the school board.”
   To make its voice heard the group is reaching out to the community for funding and pledges. Then it plans to petition the local school board and elected officials. Then it will continue to look at innovative ways to upgrade the building.
   In December, the school board requested all ideas for the site be submitted to them by June 1. Any proposals put forth, including this joint proposal, must be “aligned with the educational mission of the district and the needs of the district’s students, including education, recreation and/or counseling.”
   Any project for consideration by the board must have secured funding.
   Current tenants, which include TV30, Cornerhouse and the township affordable housing office, must vacate by June 30. Cornerhouse and TV30 are still in the process of finding other spaces. The affordable housing office will be absorbed into the township offices across the street.
   One other group has expressed interest. Its plan would knock the building down and build a new emergency services building, expand the firehouse next door and create a space for CornerHouse.