By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — The Township Council has conditionally named Town Center South’s third redeveloper candidate, a company that wants to build 75 one- and two-bedroom apartments on an interior lot on the south side of Route 33.
Washington Village Apartments would be a gated community constructed along the yet-to-be-built Liberty Street, which will run parallel to Route 33 between Washington Boulevard and Robbinsville-Edinburg Road. The apartments would have street-level surface parking underneath three-story buildings with elevators.
The property, owned by S.R. Property Associates LLC, is located behind Washington Liquors and a vacant parcel that fronts Route 33.
The council voted 4-0 on Oct. 25 without discussion to conditionally designate S.R. Property Associates LLC as the redeveloper for the project, which the resolution states is “generally consistent” with the Town Center South redevelopment goals.
The resolution also authorizes the town’s redevelopment committee, which is comprised of several council members and township officials, to move forward with negotiations with S.R. Property Associates on a final redevelopment agreement. Any agreement will ultimately be subject to the full council’s review and vote.
The Town Center South Redevelopment Area comprises 90 acres of mostly vacant land and small homes and businesses on the south side of Route 33 across from the existing Town Center. Although one developer, Sharbell, built the existing Town Center, the second phase on the south side will have numerous redevelopers because there are more than a dozen different property owners within the zone.
In September, the council endorsed a concept plan submitted by Ferber Associates for a new 15,000-square-foot Walgreens on a 2.4-acre parcel at the far west end of the zone on the corner of Route 33 and Washington Boulevard. The proposed Liberty Street would run behind the Walgreens, putting the pharmacy cattycorner to the proposed Washington Village Apartments.
The joint venture of Sharbell Development Corp. and Elite Showcase Complex LLC is the redeveloper candidate for the largest redevelopment proposal so far — 52 acres of vacant township-owned land on the zone’s eastern end.
The Sharbell-Elite concept plan includes a 385-by-550-foot air supported field house for sports competitions and entertainment events; four mixed-use multi-story buildings with residential units on the top floors: and stand-alone pad sites for restaurants or possibly a hotel.
The township designated Town Center South as area in need of redevelopment in 2010, a move that gave the municipality extensive control over the redevelopment process, including the power to use eminent domain to force the sale of private property if needed. However, the township has said it wants to negotiate property sales, not force them through condemnation proceedings.
Both the Sharbell-Elite plan and the S.R. Property Associates plan involve interior parcels in the redevelopment area along the proposed Liberty Street, not the lots fronting Route 33.

