The College of New Jersey has found its developer for a planned $50 million “campus town” project that will bring housing, retail, and restaurants to the edge of the Ewing campus.
PRC Group of West Long Branch will handle the project, which will be a mixed-use development on 14 acres beside TCNJ on Pennington Road. The 216,000-square-foot project is expected to provide housing for roughly 400 students by the fall 2013 semester.
The project will include retail stores, health and wellness facilities, and restaurants for the community at large, not just the students. PRC has signed a 50-year lease for the site, where it will collect rents on behalf of the school. PRC will also oversee property management.
The project still needs approval from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which is financing the project through the 2009 state Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. EDA will review the plan in October. Until approval is received, TCNJ will hold public information sessions to discuss project details and timelines.
TCNJ president Barbara Gitenstein said that while the school has considered such a project for years, it was not possible. “The ability to pursue this project as a public-private partnership is a wonderful opportunity for the college,” she said. Without the EDA, she said, the school would never be able to afford to build the new housing.
She also said that Campus Town will be “a sustainable, walkable, and environmentally responsible complex that will be an alternative to traveling by car to shopping and services along nearby Route 1.”
Updates on the project can be found at https://campustown.pages.tcnj.edu
#b#College of New Jersey#/b#, 2000 Pennington Road, Box 7718, Ewing 08628-0718; 609-771-1855; fax, 609-771-3067. R. Barbara Gitenstein, president. www.tcnj.edu
