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PRINCETON: Officials, governor disagree on numbers

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   Terra Momo Restaurant Group will operate a café and a full service restaurant as part of Princeton University’s arts and transit project, the school announced Monday.
   The decision allows the family-owned business to expand its footprint in the region, already operating the highly regarded Eno Terra in Kingston and three other establishments in Princeton. Plans call for renovating two buildings at the NJ Transit Dinky train station and turning them into eating places, opening about a year apart.
   A 54-seat “pizzeria-style” café will open first, in summer 2015, in what’s a commuter waiting room, the university said. The café plans to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
   Then in spring 2016, the 116-seat restaurant will occupy the former baggage and freight building that also will need an addition. The two establishments do not have names yet, according to the university, which will pay for the renovations.
   Kristin Appelget, director of community and regional affairs at Princeton, said Monday that the school reached out to Princeton restaurateurs last year, a large number of whom attended an open house the school had at the train station. Tracy Lawler, a principal of Princeton-based JGL Management Services Co., a food services consultant, was an advisor to the committee, Ms. Appelget said.
   The university would not disclose how many restaurants were under consideration, only that Terra Momo recently was selected. In a university-issued press release Monday, Terra Momo co-owner Carlo Momo said he looked forward to the project.
   ”Princeton is becoming more and more of a destination and we’d like to make it a dining mecca, too,” said Mr. Momo, who is in business with his brother, Raoul.
   Dan Day, a spokesman for the university, directed all questions to Terra Momo about whether it will need a liquor license.
   The $330 million arts and transit project calls for remaking a stretch of Alexander Street and University Place to include a new train station, street improvements, the two eating establishments and three campus buildings, all completed by summer 2017. Initial demolition work is scheduled to start this spring, although the project is tied up in separate, pending lawsuits that opponents have filed to stop the university from going forward.