Work has finally started on the old General Motors site on Parkway Avenue in Ewing, following the sale of the property.
RACER Trust announced in September the sale of the property to Parkway Town Center Urban Renewal LLC, an entity created by Atlantic Realty, the developer of the site. The project — a mixed-use development called Ewing Town Center — has experienced numerous delays while RACER completed environmental cleanup of the property.
The project, approved by the township planning board in 2016, calls for the construction of 1,184 residential rental units, 94,750 square feet of retail, and 14,375 square feet of offices. At least 10 percent of the housing would be set aside for state-mandated low and moderate-income housing.
The approval came some two decades after General Motors shut down operations on the 80-acre tract, and almost two years after it was originally proposed by Lennar Corp.
In early 2014 the Ewing Township Redevelopment Agency approved a concept plan by Lennar to build the town center, but that plan never reached the planning board. Lennar opted to bow out of the deal due to changing market conditions and escalating environmental cleanup costs. The original plan was for Lennar to build the for-sale townhouse units and partner with Atlantic Realty to construct the multifamily properties.
Atlantic, which primarily builds and manages rental projects, expressed interest in developing the town center after Lennar’s exit, but wanted to develop the residential portion of the site with all rentals. The township worked with Atlantic for about a year to come up with a plan for an all-rental development.
The project is scheduled to be built in five phases beginning with 164 residential units and community green space.
“We are very pleased to have sold this property to a company with demonstrated development success over many decades and look forward to what is sure to be a transformative project that will provide new housing, job opportunities, and other benefits for the community,” said Elliott P. Laws, of EPLET LLC, administrative trustee of RACER Trust.
