The 20 Nassau Street office and retail building at the corner of Chambers Street could potentially be downtown Princeton’s third hotel.
After recently being sold to GPNJ Owner, LLC., owned by Ben Weprin, the founder of AJ Capital Partners, an investment firm operating out of Chicago that develops hotel destinations across the country, the five-story building and property consists of more than 70,000 square feet.
“This building is ideal for a hotel,” said Joshua Zinder, head of Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design. “We have done studies for people who have looked at buying this building over the years.”
Zinder said that previously the property had been looked at by other potential buyers as a potential hotel with 116-130 rooms.
Zinder’s company is helping representatives of Graduate Hotels with acquiring township approvals as they move forward.
Graduate Hotels, another company of Weprin’s, develops hotels in college towns around the country.
“This building is really ideal for this type of adapted reuse,” Zinder said. “From a community point of view, I think this has a number of benefits for the community.”
The property is comprised of four lots. Combined the four lots are assessed at about $10.5 million and generate $244,858 in property tax revenue, according to property tax records.
If the property is developed into a hotel, it would be competing in downtown Princeton with the Nassau Inn at Palmer Square and the Peacock Inn at Bayard Lane.
Zinder said he believes there would be a reduction in parking traffic with a new hotel.
“Based on what I have seen, and my understanding of uses, the hotel parking is at a much lower demand than the office usage is for parking,” he said. “I think the reality is after this is all done, you will probably see traffic reduced in the area because of the hotel.
“If you think about this, the building is filled with professionals and therapists, so they are driving in and out everyday with their staffs plus you have the people visiting the professionals. There is constant demand for parking in the area,” Zinder added.
Currently, the office and retail building consists of 13 stores and more than 100 office suites. The suites have various psychologist and counselor offices.
Guests at the Nassau Inn utilize the Chambers Street Garage and the Hulfish Street Garage.
“As to parking, we have no concern because each business is responsible for securing their own parking for their individual use, so their needs will not directly impact our two privately owned garages,” said Vice President of Palmer Square and Nassau Inn, Lori Rabon.
The Peacock Inn has onsite parking for its guests.
Princeton’s downtown also provides public parking at the Kinney Garage on Hulfish Street and meter parking throughout town.