PRINCETON: AvalonBay presents changes to designs

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert and Jennifer Bradley, Staff Writers
   AvalonBay, the developer seeking to buy the former hospital site and redevelop it into 280 rental apartments, was back before the Borough Council this week to provide a project update.
   ”We expect to file a conforming site plan imminently and we look forward to site plan hearings at the Planning Board as soon as possible so the empty hospital building will not have to remain and we can start our work as quickly as possible,” said Ron Ladell, senior vice president of Iselin-based AvalonBay communities. “We appreciate the time and effort put forth by the ad hoc committee over the past many weeks and we look forward to our full site plan presentation and further input from the community.”
   Once the application is filed, zoning will be locked in with the “time of application” rule, which will exempt the project from any changes to the zoning.
   Changes to AvalonBay’s project design include the addition of an archway and the lowering of the building height and reduction of the mass, as reported to the Borough Council on June 6.
   A 20-foot-high, 25-foot wide archway will grace the front of the building on Witherspoon Street and open to an approximate 100 by 100-foot courtyard.
   ”There are no units above the archway area,” said Mr. Ladell. “It will appear to be a very large archway because it is not tunnel-like.”
   The leasing and lobby building, or main entrance, will be set back about 200 feet from Witherspoon Street.
   Building height was reduced by one or two stories to a range of 32.5 to 48 feet high, similar to the adjacent Lambert House. The building will vary in height along the streetscape and the interior corridors. The developers are allowed seven stories with up to 67.5 feet in height.
   This is a dramatic difference to the existing hospital building, which is 119 feet high. Many buildings will be three stories high with a loft, some will be four stories high with lofts.
   The building is now abandoned after the hospital moved to its new location on Route 1 in Plainsboro last month.
   The Witherspoon Street and Franklin Terrace first floor units will have porches with exterior front doors for residents to access their units without entering the main building, said Mr. Ladell. Units along the service road will have decks or terraces to allow those residents to enter their units from the outside.
   ”This will put eyes on the street and activate the street and make it residential in character due to the many front doors that will exist on both streets,” said Mr. Ladell.
   Relocating the driveway expanded the open space along Witherspoon Street and with a new curb cut, said Mr. Ladell.
   ”The entire site will have sidewalks, plantings and green area on all street facades,” he said.
   The developer is allowed a maximum building lot coverage of 60 percent, and they are proposing to use 40 percent, which would be a one-third reduction in impervious coverage.
   The open space along Witherspoon Street will be 50 percent more than the borough ordinances require, with a depth of 123 feet for a length of 120 feet, said Mr. Ladell. Borough ordinances require a depth of open space along Witherspoon Street 50 feet for a distance of 100 feet.
   The façade will be varied with suggestions from the ad-hoc committee, which include breaking up massing with architectural elements, jogs, stairwells and varied heights.
   Units are expected to rent for about $1,600 to $3,200 per month, said Mr. Ladell.
   There were no plans to change the homes on Harris Road that are part of the deal.
   The hospital will be responsible for any environmental remediation on the site and AvalonBay will be responsible for the asbestos in the building as they prepare to take it down.
   The main issues that were brought up several times by residents were the plans for a pool in the complex, since there is a new community pool a short distance away. Other issues included the lack of green structures and the artificial, closed-off feeling of the community.
   Township resident Daniel Harris passed out flyers and recruited people to sign his petition with Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods. Mr. Harris said one of the big issues with AvalonBay is that it is a closed compound and a gated community.
   Princeton Future, a think-tank that examines community wide issues, sent a statement to the Borough Council in advance of Wednesday night’s meeting.
   ”The community said it wanted any project on the hospital site to be open, to be inviting and to have a welcoming quality. It does not want a gated, closed-off development,” wrote Sheldon Sturges, president of Princeton Future. “Princeton Future – as an organization focused on finding solutions to community challenges through public education and civic engagement – is concerned that the proposed development at the former hospital site does not comply with municipal design standards crafted by the community.”
   During 2005 and 2006, Princeton Future worked on the Witherspoon Street Corridor Study (WSCS).
   ”The findings of the WSCS process resulted in the Design Standards of the Borough of Princeton’s Zoning Code governing the re-zoning of the hospital site,” wrote Mr. Sturges. “We would do well to seek ways to further the enforceability of these and other design standards.”
   Jim Kilgore, owner and publisher of the Packet, is a on the board of Princeton Future.