By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP The township has nabbed a $250,000 federal grant for a light rail station in the planned Bordentown Waterfront Community.
The grant was announced Friday by Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who was joined by Mayor Bruce Hill.
”This is the type of investment that will help rebuild our community for the 21st century economy,” Sen. Menendez said. “By supporting public transportation and communities with easy access to it, we are helping to create jobs, reduce energy costs and clear the air we breathe. I am proud to have helped secure this investment to support these goals.”
Mayor Hill, who introduced the senator, touted his support for the planned mixed-use transit village.
”We are grateful for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez’s support for the transit and public infrastructure improvements as they are critical to the project’s success,” he said. “The Waterfront Transit Village will be the gateway to Bordentown Township and an important transit hub for the region.”
The development has some approvals from the township, and developer Jeffrey Albert said Bordentown Waterfront Community LLC is now doing more planning with the township while pursuing approvals from the county and the state.
”(The $250,000) is a small amount given the totality of the train station effort itself, but it’s a very vital and important first step for the federal government to get involved in the funding,” Mr. Albert said.
The light rail stop, which has approval from NJ Transit and is set to be part of the RiverLINE, is expected to cost between $8.5 million and $9 million overall, and Mr. Albert said the LLC is investigating more sources of funding, including other federal grants.
”There’s quite a lot we’ve paid for already, but it’s an awful lot of money to ask the private sector to pay for entirely on its own,” he said.
The development is slated to add about 600 residences to the township’s only waterfront property. The site of a former shipyard, it is now a state-designated brownfield, a vacant, contaminated industrial site, which will be remediated in the second phase of construction under the current plan.
The property is at the southern end of the township, and the development is intended to provide a “gateway” into Bordentown.
The community is also planned to include restaurant and retail space, a riverfront boardwalk open to the public and an extension to the Heritage bike trail. Plans also call for the reconfiguration of the intersection of Route 130 and Bordentown-Burlington Road, which officials have said is much needed.
Mr. Albert said Monday he expects work on the first phase of construction to begin in the first quarter of next year, with the brownfield remediation occurring around fall 2011.
Bordentown Waterfront Community LLC is a joint venture of Princewood Properties LLC, of Princeton; Buckingham Partners LLC, of Haddonfield; and Arsenal Real Estate Funds LP, of Morristown.
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