To the Editor:
As a longtime resident of Princeton and president of the Mercer Hill Historic District Association, I would like to add to the broad-based public outcry over the proposed luxury high-rise development on Stockton Street between Edgehill Street and Hibben Road. The wake-up call came on April 23 when several eminent historians placed a full-page ad in Town Topics entitled, “Historians in Defense of Historic Princeton.” The outrage has continued with many thoughtful and informative letters to the editor of the Town Topics.
Meanwhile, alarmed Princeton residents have placed over 150 lawn signs all over town with “Defend Historic Princeton.” What do these bright orange signs mean? I have spoken with many residents, and my takeaway is a demand for an end to the “development at all costs” agenda. The proposed development threatens to significantly endanger our historic heritage through construction of an extremely dense high-rise luxury apartment complex the likes of which Princeton has never before seen in any part of town.
The luxury high-rise is mainly composed of a Phase 1 and a Phase 2. The 238 housing units of these phases will sit on 4.4 acres, for a density of 54 units per acre. This density is 40 percent higher than the highest comparable property in Princeton to-date, the Avalon on Witherspoon, which has a density of 38 units per acre. The proposed density will be 18 times higher than the surrounding neighborhood, based on the proximate homes on Edgehill, Hibben, Stockton and Mercer streets. To note, 100 percent of the adjacent area is R1 residential zoning, unlike other similar developments.
Adjacent to the development is The Barracks at 32 Edgehill, a stone residence built for the Stockton family about 1685, and the oldest house in Princeton. This site’s historical and architectural significance will be forever degraded by the towering apartments 20 feet from its rear garden.
I hear residents asking, “for what?”
Recent writers to the Town Topics have highlighted other major concerns of this project. First, the height will be over 50 feet on Stockton Street but over 80 feet as seen from Mercer Street. Second, the PILOT tax incentive provides huge tax breaks, $40 million, to the developer. Third, as a result of the PILOT program, the school system will see a massive shortfall in tax income, estimated at $39 to $53 million, versus no PILOT. Fourth, dangerous traffic problems caused by 261 cars and sole entry-exit directly onto 206, a congested two-lane federal highway. And finally, the claim that this project is driven by “affordable housing” when it provides only the legal minimum of 20 percent of units, offers only rental units with no pathway to ownership, and reverts all units to “market pricing” after 30 years.
Please send a note of support to the historians at historicprinceton@gmail.com, contact members of Princeton Council and the Planning Board to make clear your opposition, and ask for Planning Board meetings to return to in-person (with Zoom) meetings.