"I do expect the vote to pass, because the Speedwell Avenue Redevelopment has been in the works for more than seven years," Cresitello says, in a statement. "If we have to wait another week [to vote], it won't make a big difference."
The latest site plan is a slightly scaled back version of an earlier proposal, both designed by the locally based NK Architects. The previous version called for 800 housing units and 75,000 square feet of retail space on 12 acres along Speedwell Ave.; Early and Spring streets; and Clinton Place in this city's downtown. The new plan--covered in the proposed redeveloper agreement with TCR--calls for 650 residences, 35,000 square feet of street-level retail and office space and 822 parking spaces on a site reduced by about one-third.
Of the residences, the proposed agreement calls for 131 of them, or about 20%, classified as "affordable." Another 25% would be market-rate condos and the remaining units as rental apartments. The project also calls for major roadwork involving the realignment of Speedwell Avenue and Early Street.
A four-year build-out in three phases is projected. Phase one would include 300 market-rate residences, 75 affordable units and 15,000 square feet of retail. Phase two would add another 188 residences, and phase three wrap things up with 88 residences and the remaining 20,000 square feet of commercial space.
The project would create "a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood," reads the proposed redeveloper agreement. "The object is to use smart growth planning principles [as a means] to create an attractive and sustainable neighborhood."
As part of the plan, TCR would pay $7 million for a portion of the site that's owned by the city's public works department, whose facilities would have to be relocated. An additional tract owned by the Morristown Parking Authority would similarly need to be acquired, as would several privately owned lots.
Eminent domain could be in play for those properties, according to the redevelopment agreement. Finally, city officials say they might issue upwards of $8 million in bonds to pay for improvements to the site itself.
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