Jones Lang LaSalle
Hospital site plan for redevelopment gains approval
Saturday, January 21, 2006
By ROBERT STERN Staff Writer
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP - The University Medical Center at Princeton hospital's Witherspoon Street megablock moved closer to becoming a mostly residential redevelopment hub after Princeton planners backed the idea late Thursday night.
The new master plan for the site calls for a primarily residential mixed-use complex that also allows for neighborhood retail, a restaurant, offices and medical service space. The option for senior-care facilities, such as assisted living and nursing care, also exists.
It recommends a redevelopment cap of 510,000 square feet because that's the amount of existing medical and hospital space on the nearly 10-acre block.
Existing buildings - including the eight-story hospital that makes up most of the development - could remain or be demolished and replaced by new ones. New construction should be limited to five stories but vary in height.
The Princeton Regional Planning Board adopted the site's new master plan by a 9-0 vote after extensive debate and two nights of formal public hearings.
The plan provides guidelines for zoning changes necessary for redevelopment that likely won't start before 2010.
It's up to the borough council and Princeton Township Committee to enact the zoning changes, although they have the discretion to override the master plan parameters.
Most - if not all - of any new housing component would be built on the Princeton Borough portion of the property, with consideration for up to 320 new residential units there if at least 40 are one-bedroom age-restricted residences for seniors.
Princeton HealthCare System needs to sell its hospital block and two other properties in the borough to help finance a new medical campus it wants to build on Route 1 North in Plainsboro.
The 87-year-old medical center won't close before 2010, the earliest the proposed $350 million hospital in Plainsboro might open.
Princeton HealthCare has a preliminary deal to sell its existing hospital block to Philadelphia-based developer Lubert-Adler Management.
As much as half of the new residential capacity on the borough portion may be designated as age-restricted under the new master plan. The block's borough side contains about 86 percent of the redevelopment potential.
Neither the block's Harris Road houses that Princeton HealthCare owns nor its parking garage count against the 510,000-square-foot redevelopment cap.
Some residents have urged the planning board to reduce the amount of redevelopment potential so the block would mesh better with the smaller-scale adjoining neighborhoods.
That's also why some residents and the nonprofit community planning group Princeton Future have insisted that redevelopment include a new through-street to break up the block.
Princeton HealthCare representatives have said repeatedly that a lower redevelopment limit would unfairly reduce its resale value. Also, they have expressed some reluctance to requiring a new through-street.
Although the new master plan doesn't reduce the square footage allowance, it offers a compromise on the idea of a through-street by stating that "a new neighborhood street is envisioned through the site."
NOTE: Contact Robert Stern at rstern@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5731.
Hospital site plan for redevelopment gains approval
Saturday, January 21, 2006
By ROBERT STERN Staff Writer
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP - The University Medical Center at Princeton hospital's Witherspoon Street megablock moved closer to becoming a mostly residential redevelopment hub after Princeton planners backed the idea late Thursday night.
The new master plan for the site calls for a primarily residential mixed-use complex that also allows for neighborhood retail, a restaurant, offices and medical service space. The option for senior-care facilities, such as assisted living and nursing care, also exists.
It recommends a redevelopment cap of 510,000 square feet because that's the amount of existing medical and hospital space on the nearly 10-acre block.
Existing buildings - including the eight-story hospital that makes up most of the development - could remain or be demolished and replaced by new ones. New construction should be limited to five stories but vary in height.
The Princeton Regional Planning Board adopted the site's new master plan by a 9-0 vote after extensive debate and two nights of formal public hearings.
The plan provides guidelines for zoning changes necessary for redevelopment that likely won't start before 2010.
It's up to the borough council and Princeton Township Committee to enact the zoning changes, although they have the discretion to override the master plan parameters.
Most - if not all - of any new housing component would be built on the Princeton Borough portion of the property, with consideration for up to 320 new residential units there if at least 40 are one-bedroom age-restricted residences for seniors.
Princeton HealthCare System needs to sell its hospital block and two other properties in the borough to help finance a new medical campus it wants to build on Route 1 North in Plainsboro.
The 87-year-old medical center won't close before 2010, the earliest the proposed $350 million hospital in Plainsboro might open.
Princeton HealthCare has a preliminary deal to sell its existing hospital block to Philadelphia-based developer Lubert-Adler Management.
As much as half of the new residential capacity on the borough portion may be designated as age-restricted under the new master plan. The block's borough side contains about 86 percent of the redevelopment potential.
Neither the block's Harris Road houses that Princeton HealthCare owns nor its parking garage count against the 510,000-square-foot redevelopment cap.
Some residents have urged the planning board to reduce the amount of redevelopment potential so the block would mesh better with the smaller-scale adjoining neighborhoods.
That's also why some residents and the nonprofit community planning group Princeton Future have insisted that redevelopment include a new through-street to break up the block.
Princeton HealthCare representatives have said repeatedly that a lower redevelopment limit would unfairly reduce its resale value. Also, they have expressed some reluctance to requiring a new through-street.
Although the new master plan doesn't reduce the square footage allowance, it offers a compromise on the idea of a through-street by stating that "a new neighborhood street is envisioned through the site."
NOTE: Contact Robert Stern at rstern@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5731.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:27 AM
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