Less than two months after lawmakers voted to sell a state-owned former processing center in New Jersey’s capital city, plans have already been filed to bring a new mixed-use complex to the property.
150-170 South Broad Trenton Urban Renewal Associates, LP submitted an application to the City of Trenton that calls for bringing 120 residential units to the site of the Van Sciver Building and two adjacent tracts near Mill Hill Park. A statement from City Hall mentioned that 20 percent of the apartments in the building will be “affordable rate units.”
The five-story project is also expected to consist of 8,548 square feet of commercial space, including a restaurant, according to a legal notice. Additional components of the development could include a nearly 3,600-square-foot fitness center and yoga studio, a community room, and private terrace spaces. 168 parking spaces would be provided beneath the proposed complex, which is being designed by Inglese Architecture + Engineering.
As we reported last week, the Van Sciver Building was originally home to the J.B. Van Sciver Furniture Company, a Camden-based business that opened in Trenton in 1932. In the subsequent decades, the edifice at 160 South Broad Street was expanded and eventually used by the New Jersey Division of Revenue and the Division of Taxation as the Mill Hill Processing Center.
Described in 1997 by The New York Times as a “highly secured, turreted fortress,” the distinctive structure was later under consideration by the Department of Treasury for a possible sale to the City of Trenton. However, while that deal did not advance, a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli, and Senator Shirley Turner to sell the building for $800,000 to an unnamed company was passed unanimously this June by the State Senate and the State Assembly. The sale came after an online auction that reportedly only saw one bid, which was submitted less than an hour before the deadline.
The legal notice mentioned that 150-170 South Broad Trenton Urban Renewal Associates, LP is the “contract purchaser” for the Van Sciver property and that the company already owns neighboring 150 South Broad Street, a former bank branch. As part of the development plans for the 1.47-acre site, the facade and other portions of the Van Sciver Building would be preserved, the notice states.
The developer has applied for Preliminary Site Plan approval with variances from the Trenton Planning Board. The company’s application is scheduled to be heard during a meeting on Thursday, August 8, at 7:00 p.m.
Edward G. Martoglio is listed as the registered agent of 150-170 South Broad Trenton Urban Renewal Associates, LP. Martoglio is the president of Montclair-based RPM Development Group, a firm that has been involved in projects such as Patriot Village in Trenton, Richardson Lofts in Newark, and Orange’s Linc 32 and Linc 52 developments.
Jersey Digs reached out to RPM for additional information regarding this development proposal, but our request for comment has not yet been returned.
Note to readers: The dates that applications are scheduled to be heard by the Trenton Planning Board and other commissions are subject to change.
