By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Packet Media Group
PLAINSBORO — Princeton Forrestal Village has been around 28 years and although it has a nice pedigree it has never really succeeded. Now, a new developer believes it has the solution — a residential component.Designed by Sasaki Associates, of Watertown, Massachusetts, and Bower Lewis Thrower/Architects, of Philadelphia, the initial goal of the center was to create a retail mix that would make patrons want to come back every day. The village broke ground in 1986 on land leased from Princeton University, at Route 1 and College Farm Road.
In an attempt to lure shoppers back more frequently than they would visit a local mall, the Main Street-style village opened with a barbershop, a tailor, a shoe repair shop, an express mail store and a video rental store as well as upscale shops, an indoor food court, several restaurants, a Marriott hotel, and nightclubs. However, the village, which is a little off the beaten track at the intersection of Route 1 and College Road, couldn’t compete with downtown Princeton, Palmer Square or the Quaker Bridge Mall.
When the upscale tenants started moving out, the owners decided to bring in outlet stores. The outlet mall was successful for a brief period of time but by the late 1990s more tenants moved out and many of the storefronts remained empty for years.
In 2007, new owners rebranded the village mainly as an office and professional complex with some retail stores. The Marriott, which moved across Route 1, was replaced with a Westin. Can Do Fitness opened up as did Koi Spa, a physical therapy center, a nail salon, some small retail stores and Luxe Home, a furnishings store.
"It’s a nice, cute pedestrian village surrounded by a sea of parking that never really succeeded," Robert Schenkel, senior director of development at Lincoln Equities Group, said. "It was a high-end boutique mall, a discount mall and lots of things in between. It had a lot of different developers over the years and we’re the most recent who think we’re going to succeed."
Since Lincoln Equities Group took ownership in December of 2010, Forrestal Village has seen exponential growth in all its sectors, with a particular increase in the medical and healthcare areas due to its location one mile north of the new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. Along with medical/healthcare, office and retail leasing, the village is one of the area’s dining destinations with nameplate restaurants such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Salt Creek Grille, Tre Piani Restaurant and Bar, and the area’s first Bon Appetit Café, along with other similar venues. The village continues to boast the popular Can Do Fitness and Koi Spa.
"We’ve spruced it up and I think we’re running it better and nicer, but we always felt need for it to be a live, work, play environment with a synergy among the different uses. What’s missing is the residential component," Mr. Schenkel said.
Lincoln Equities Group has proposed 394 dwelling units in three, three- and four- story buildings, located along College Road West, along the west side of the Princeton Forrestal Village. The proposed units will be rental units, including 20 studio, 229 one-bedroom, 135 two-bedroom, and 10 three bedroom units. Fifty of the units will be designated Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) units.
The Plainsboro Planning Board considered the concept plan on June 16 and anticipates the formal site plan and subdivision applications during the fall of this year.
"We worked very closely with township," Mr. Schenkel said. "They are very demanding and made it clear that certain things are important to them. They want us to analyze the impacts of traffic and parking and want it to be a financially good project for the community, for the village and for us. We expect to have approvals this year and break ground in the latter part of next year."
Mr. Schenkel described the planned residential development as hotel-type living, with a doorman, an elevator, nice lobbies, and different kinds of lounges.
"They would integrate into the pedestrian landscape of village," he said. "The trend today is that young people live in urban environments. There’s not a lot of urbanity in that area of world. I think there’s a demand to live and walk to restaurants and Can Do Fitness. I think (the residential component) will bring a lot of synergy and the village will get more retail tenants, more service retail tenants, which will also meet the demand from the residents across the street in the Windrows development that used to have an ice cream shop and a card store and liked being able to walk across the street and go shopping."
He said the residential and retail development would feed off each other.
"I think it will be a very beautiful complement to the village and will make the village stronger," he said. "The hospital will create a demand and young professionals and empty nesters will come in. We don’t expect children because of where and what it is."