By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Local real estate developer Charlie Yedlin is the contract purchaser of SAVE, A Friend to Homeless Animals property on Herrontown Road in a sale contingent on the town approving his development project on the site.
Mr. Yedlin, president of the Yedlin Co., said Tuesday he intended to file an application with either the planning or zoning boards in the spring. The exact type of development — commercial or residential — has not been determined.
The three-acre property is zoned commercial and near some of Mr. Yedlin’s other real estate holdings. Mr. Yedlin, also a construction contractor, owns three office buildings on Herrontown Road; he and his now late father, Ben, developed and constructed the old Orchard Lane townhouses behind the shelter off Mount Lucas Road.
"I’m very excited about acquiring and developing the property," Mr. Yedlin said by phone. He said the sale is contingent upon getting municipal approvals.
SAVE will put the money it makes from the sale of the property toward the construction cost of its new shelter on Blawenberg Road in the Skillman section of Montgomery. Overall, the new shelter will cost roughly $4 million, an amount that also includes the restoration of the historic 19th century James Van Zandt house that will serve as SAVE’s administrative headquarters.
The organization is planning to relocate sometime in mid to late February, said SAVE executive director Piper H. Burrows by phone Tuesday. The new building will have a capacity for 100 animals.
Ms. Burrows said she was confident that the sale would go through and felt the organization had not boxed itself into a corner should Mr. Yedlin fail to get municipal approval for his project.
"I’m not worried in the least," she said. "If something happens and the deal falls through, it’s a very valuable piece of land in a great location."
Her organization in September had received a $500,000 challenge grant from the George H. and Estelle M. Sands Foundation to help cover the cost of the new shelter. To date, SAVE raised roughly $234,000 that will be matched dollar for dollar by the foundation grant.
Save, started in 1941, has operated out of Princeton for that entire time. The organization is leaving its crumbling shelter that will be demolished.
