The public hearing for a proposed commercial retail and restaurant project building project on East Broad Street would not continue as expected when the Hopewell Borough Planning Board convened for its April meeting.
The postponement has moved the application to the May 5 virtual meeting. The application had been carried to April 7, as the hearing was unable to be completed due to time constraints at the March 3 meeting.
Planning Board Chair Peter Macholdt indicated that the board had received a request from the applicant to put the hearing on hold.
“We really do not know what their intentions are in terms of a next step,” he said on April 7.
The project repurposes the former automobile service station building of Castoro & Company Inc. The applicant is seeking preliminary and final site plan approval for the renovation of the existing structure located at 71 E. Broad St.
The applicant is proposing 120 indoor seats and some additional seasonal outdoor and rooftop seating and 42 proposed parking spaces. First floor outdoor dining would be at patio level and second floor outdoor dining at roof level.
The proposed project would construct space for two restaurants that would operate independently from one another and office space in the adapted reuse of the former service building.
The restaurant spaces are set up for different owners, but was previously indicated by representatives of the applicant that initially it is unknown whether there will be two separate owners for the restaurant spaces or one.
There also will be a 1,200-gallon grease trap (device that captures fats, oils and grease before they enter the wastewater system) to handle two 2,000-square-foot restaurants, Gallagher added.
There would be a restaurant (2,000 square feet) on the first floor, restaurant (1,748 square feet) space on the second floor that would include a rooftop dining area, and second-floor office space (1,213 square feet), according to application documents.
The buildings total floor area is 9,742 square feet and the project includes the removal of a portion of the rear of the building.
The applicant is also adding back in the garage.
The first floor contains the enclosed parking garage, lobby, two-story atrium for the entire building, dining area, kitchen, common area and restrooms. The second floor would have the rooftop dining area, the second restaurant space, office space above the parking garage, and building mechanical space.