A little optimism

I remember seeing in the Times (of Trenton) that one of our neighboring suburbs had to cancel three consecutive planning board meetings recently; they did not have any projects coming down the pike. With that in mind, it has been especially impressive to see so many projects presented to the Planning Board in the past six months. And given the state of the housing market and the general state of our national economy, its that much more encouraging. It will take years for some of these projects to be completed, and there will certainly be some that may never be completed, but the numbers are still looking good.

It is worth listing the projects to date, if only because these projects have not garnered much traditional press attention. These are generally smaller projects, but when taken together as a whole, its an impressive and significant list. My VERY rough and conservative (and unofficial!) estimate is that these projects would add up to over $40 million in construction costs. Kudos to the developers, non profits, and the municipal officials who have ushered these projects through. It is a tremendous body of work.


Highlights include:

95 new units of single family housing

32 units of renovated single family housing (not required for planning board approval- just included as part of other projects)

38 Renovated buildings for 78 units of rental housing.

The new Trenton YMCA on Broad Street

A 3,000 sf Bank on Olden Avenue

NJBIA's new headquarters

A mixed use office/ retail building at Warren and Front Streets

A more detailed list follows:

November 20th, 2007

1: (Capital) Phase V of the arena district streetscape improvements. MCIA: Center Street, 2nd Street between Bridge and Cass Streets.

2: (Final) Single family row home: 82 West Street: Applicant Mark Weiss of Lakewood, NJ.

3: (Preliminary) Nine row homes: Hobart Avenue (between Cleveland and South Logan Avenues) SSJ Land Development of Franklin Lakes, NJ

4: (Final) 27 new single family homes and the renovation of 25 single family homes in the canal banks redevelopment area. Passaic and Spring Streets. Passaic Street LLC, Lawrenceville, NJ.

December 13th, 2007

5: (Prelim) 10 new single family homes, 7 renovated single family homes. Canal Banks redevelopment area. Commerce Street, North Montgomery Street, Academy and Stockton Streets. Isles, Inc. Trenton, NJ.

6: Center City South Redevelopment Area- expansion of the area.

7: Amendments to the New York Avenue Redevelopment Area Plan

January 10th, 2008

Organizational meeting

February 14th, 2008

8: (Prelim) Conversion and expansion of a building to be used as an ice cream parlor and deli. 320 North Montgomery. Richard Jones of Trenton, NJ.

9: (Prelim) 3-story mixed-use building 108 South Warren Street (and the corner of Front Street). Woodrose Properties CWA, LLC, of Lambertville, NJ.

10: Sanihican Redevelopment/ Rehabilitation Area Plan

11: Amendments to the Lamberton Street Redevelopment Area Plan

February 28th, 2008

12: (Final) Conversion of an existing building for use by Central Jersey Waste and Recycling (storage, limited maintenance and cleaning of the trucks). 500 Breunig Avenue.

March 13th, 2008

13: (Capital Project) Renovations to the Douglass House

5b: (Final) 10 new single family homes, 7 renovated single family homes. Canal Banks redevelopment area. Commerce Street, North Montgomery Street, Academy and Stockton Streets. Isles, Inc. Trenton, NJ.

March 27th, 2008

14: (Final) 42 semi-detached single family homes- Magic Marker Site: Calhoun and Dunham Streets. Monmouth Management, LLC of Lawrenceville, NJ.

15: (Prelim) Renovations to 38 Sites for a total of 78 rental units. North Montgomery, Sanford Street, and Brunswick Avenue. NMR Trenton, LLC.of Lawrenceville, NJ

16: Amendments to the Trenton Train Station Redevelopment Area Plan.

April 10th, 2008:

17: (Prelim) 3,000 sf Bank for Slavic Federal Credit Union of Fairfield, NJ- to be located at 1110-1114 North Olden Avenue.

18: (Prelim) 16 Single family homes at Humboldt Street, Sweets Avenue and Fountain Avenue. Leewood In-Town LLC of Trenton, NJ.

19: (Prelim) The Trenton YMCA at Board Street, Route 129

April 24th, 2008:

20: (Prelim) Expansion of the Escher Street SRO. Escher Street SRO Project c/o Gary Backinoff of Lawrenceville, NJ.

May 8th, 2008:

21: (Capital) MCIA’s Arena District Streetscape improvements: Cass Street: from Route 129 to Lamberton Street.

22: (Prelim) NJBIA’s new headquarters at Lafayette Street. NJBIA.

18b: (Final) 16 Single family homes at Humboldt Street, Sweets Avenue and Fountain Avenue. Leewood In-Town LLC or Trenton, NJ.