By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A real estate developer will go back before the Princeton Planning Board in two weeks seeking approval to construct an office building at the former SAVE animal shelter on Herrontown Road.
Charles Yedlin, of the third-generation Yedlin Co., acquired the three-acre property from SAVE earlier this year. His proposal calls for a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building along with parking for 125 vehicles, according to documents filed with the municipal planning office.
Mr. Yedlin said in a phone interview Monday that he has no tenants lined up yet. “But I’m talking to people,” he said.
The Planning Board hearing is scheduled for Dec.1 at 7:30 p.m., in the Witherspoon Hall municipal building. If all goes well, Mr. Yedlin said he would look to start construction sometime in late spring or early summer, in a job that would take a year to complete.
Mr. Yedlin went before the Planning Board last month and incorporated some comments from board members and residents of the nearby Old Orchard Lane townhouse development that night. In particular, the proposed office building has moved slightly, some 20 feet to the north, to provide a wider area for a buffer between the development and the residents. In all, there will be a 50-foot buffer, plans showed.
Other proposed changes include: moving some handicapped parking spots to be near the rear entrance of the building; adding a 5-foot-sidewalk to connect the front parking lot with the sidewalk on Herrontown road, among other things.
The property, located in the northern end of town, had been used as a pet shelter for more than half a century. SAVE, A Friend to Homeless Animals had operated out of there since 1941, until the nonprofit moved to the Skillman section of Montgomery, on Route 601, in 2015. The organization opened a new shelter building and converted a 19th-century home into its administrative office.
Mr. Yedlin comes from a family of developers. He and his now late father, Ben, had built that townhouse development on Old Orchard Lane, located behind the former pet shelter. He also owns other real estate on Herrontown Road, a portfolio that expanded when he acquired the former SAVE property on Aug.24, records showed.
