By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton’s crowded and competitive dining scene will add a restaurant/brewpub that a developer has proposed for the historic former post office in Palmer Square.
The entity 20 Palmer Square East LLC, owned by an executive with the company that won the bidding war for the property in 2013, last week filed with the town plans to redesign a now vacant 1930s-era building located in the heart of Princeton’s upscale dining and shopping district.
The applicant wants to “transform the post office into an exciting and vibrant restaurant that respects the post office building and its history and blends into Palmer Square with no negative impacts to the surrounding neighbors,” according to a document Palmer Square East LLC filed with the town March 16.
Proposed changes include removing the part of the building that had been used for loading bays and putting in a “glass enclosed space that will serve as the main entrance to the restaurant,” according to the same document.
“This new design feature will help enliven Palmer Square East by bringing pedestrian activity and illumination to an area in town that has always suffered in ignominy,” the document read. In addition, a mezzanine would be built in the erstwhile mail sorting room and an elevator installed.
The brewpub would serve alcohol, although there is no liquor license on file for the site with the town, according to the municipal clerk’s office. The days and hours of operation would be Monday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday to Saturday and noon until midnight Sunday.
20 Palmer Square East LLC is owned by David Eichler, the president of LCOR Ventures, based in Northern California. Until now, little had been made public about the firm’s plans for the property, although there had been recent communication between the town and its representatives.
Mayor Liz Lempert did not respond to phone, text or email messages on Monday.
Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller, also a member of the municipal planning board, said Monday that she was not surprised that a restaurant/brewpub was the proposed future use of the building.
“I think it sounds like a good addition to the downtown,” she said.
The former post office was constructed in 1932, and is listed on the state and national registries of historic places. The mural, “Columbia Under the Palm,” a piece of artwork that hung in the lobby, will be preserved and left on display for restaurant goers.
The “proposed renovation design intends to preserve the existing lobby to the greatest extent possible, re-purposing it into a featured dining room of the new plan. As part of this, the historic mural in the south alcove will be preserved, protected and on display for diners and visitors to the restaurant,” according to the document Palmer Square East filed with the town.
The U.S. Postal Service moved and reopened in November on Nassau Street, in the same building that has a 7-Eleven, but the agency still owns the Palmer Square property. Postal Service spokesman Ray V. Daiutolo Sr. said Monday that the closing on the property would occur “sometime in the summer.” The sale price has not been disclosed.
