FITTING INTO THE DOWNTOWN: The Nelson Glass House, a project of JZA+D architects, is among the winners of this year’s Smart Growth Awards from New Jersey Future. The firm turned the former home of Nelson Glass into residential apartments with a cafe on the first floor. (Photo by Ricardo Barros)

By Anne Levin

Every year since 2002, the nonprofit New Jersey Future honors development projects with the Smart Growth Awards. Last year, the municipality of Princeton was recognized for the Terhune Harrison Mixed-Use Village. This year, the local architecture firm JZA+D has won for its design for the Nelson Glass House on Spring Street.

At a ceremony on October 9, JZA+D will be among seven projects honored “for their groundbreaking contributions to making New Jersey communities sustainable and strong,” reads a release from New Jersey Future. The projects “represent the latest and greatest in planning, development, and redevelopment in the Garden State,” it continues.

The building was constructed in 1960 as headquarters for Nelson Glass and Aluminum. The Nelson family hired JZA+D, headed by Joshua Zinder, to convert the workshop to a retail space while adding three stories of apartments above. The building is on the edge of the Central

Business District and directly adjacent to a residential zone, calling for a particularly sensitive project.

To add six apartments, the firm built three new upper floors which are stepped back from both the street and neighboring houses, to preserve the light and air between the buildings. These step-backs become outdoor terraces for the apartments, providing expansive views of the town. Light flows in through the high ceilings, large windows, and balcony doors.

“People hold it up as an example of successful missing middle housing in Princeton,” said Zinder. “It has all the components — a merchant on the ground floor, an affordable housing component. There are only six apartments in the whole building, so it’s small in scale. It’s really an illustration of how to bring density to a part of town without negatively impacting the environment.”

New Jersey Future’s description of the Nelson Glass House on its website describing the Smart Growth Award winners echoes Zinder’s description, calling the project “an exemplar of ‘missing middle’ housing that seamlessly fits into the downtown neighborhood fabric, creating a mix of uses and increased density in an extremely walkable location.”

Additional winners of the award include Clinton Lofts in Trenton, Cooper River Water Trail in Camden, Hoboken Connect, Oliver Station in Camden, Stonehill at West Orange, and The Forum at Madison.

All of the glass and aluminum on the Princeton building was supplied by Nelson Glass, which is now located on Alexander Road.

“Robbie Nelson runs the company now,” said Zinder “This is a legacy project for her and her family, to complete the vision her father had brought. And that adds another important connection.”