New Brunswick Planning Board Approved College Avenue Redevelopment Plan Tuesday

The New Brunswick Planning Board approved the College Avenue Redevelopment Plan Tuesday night, sending the plan back to City Council for final approval.

According to Rutgers University administration, the project, to be completed by fall 2016, would enable the University to meet the high demand for academic classroom space and student housing on the College Avenue campus.

According to President Richard L. McCormick’s June 20 “Letter to the Rutgers Community,” the University’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees authorized the administration to enter into contract with New Brunswick Development Corporation (Devco) contingent on Devco’s ability to secure $52 million in tax credits from New Jersey’s Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program.

Rutgers administration would further invest up to $295 million to cover their share of the project. $199 million of this would be financed through student residential and dining fees, and $44 million would come from general operating revenues, both over a period of 30 years.

Many of the new structures in this plan would initially be owned by Devco and transferred to the University following a 32-year lease agreement; however the details have yet to be finalized.

 “…With this innovatively financed plan Rutgers has a great opportunity to enhance this historic campus in ways that will strengthen its appeal to faculty and high-achieving students, and bring pride to the entire university,” McCormick said in his letter.

McCormick continued to note that the University’s New Brunswick Campus enrollment has grown by 14 percent since 2006, while classroom space development has lagged behind at an increase of only 3.8 percent. In addition, the College Avenue Campus has not seen construction of a new academic building in almost 50 years, while more than 91 percent of University housing is over 25 years old.

Since all the land included in the redevelopment plan is owned by Rutgers University and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, there would be no issues concerning eminent domain. Three main areas of College Avenue would be affected by the proposed plan.

The current Theological Seminary campus along College Avenue between Seminary Place and Bishop Place would become higher educational use housing and support services.

The current Seminary conditions are poor, with many of the buildings being dilapidated, boarded up, and vacant, said Glenn Patterson, director of planning and development at the Planning Board meeting.

Rutgers would build in the Seminary’s stead an Honors College, comparable to Gallatin Hall, a residential Honors College at Harvard, Patterson said.

The college would provide space for 500 honors students attending schools across the New Brunswick Campus and is expected to open in fall 2015.

In addition, a 150,000-square-foot academic building adjacent to the Honors College would house several departments in the School of Arts and Sciences. The academic building would feature more than 2,000 seats of new classroom space and is projected to be the last portion of the project to be completed.

Philanthropic organizations related to higher education, fraternities, and sororities would be housed in the center portion of the redevelopment area. The New Brunswick Theological Seminary would replace the former Catholic Center on Mine Street. There would also be an opportunity for Hillel to be located on College Avenue.

“We also wanted to create an opportunity for them, if they wanted to, to go over on to College Avenue,” said Patterson. “We thought it might be a better site for them.”

The area commonly known as the “Grease Truck Lot”, Lot 8, would be home to a mixed use project, which would include 800-bed housing for students, retail space on the bottom floor, and a public plaza inside the surrounding building area.

The plaza would be a space for town and gown to meet, Patterson said, and while privately owned, the plaza would be publicly accessible.

The proposed space could be used for outdoor cafés and art, as well as for public events like concerts, movie screenings, and screenings of Rutgers sporting events.

“The stadium’s sold out, you can’t get a ticket, hey, you come over here and watch it on the big screen,” Patterson suggested.

The mixed use building would incorporate a variety of low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise levels.

“The greater the height, the more public space the developer has to provide,” Patterson said.

The public plaza could also include a combination of green space and concrete.

“So that’s the idea of what we’re trying to do, is to have really exciting public space, providing new housing for students both at the honors college facility and in this student housing that will be done here, providing retail along with the outdoor space…,” Patterson said.

He said Devco is discussing with Grease Truck owners the possibility of opening a Grease-Truck-like retail space.

“The Grease Trucks are an iconic figure from Rutgers, and we would like to incorporate them in here,” Patterson said.

The redevelopment plan would also include bike lane and pedestrian access on College Ave, Bishop Place, and Seminary Place, which would connect to the County’s proposed bike lanes down George Street.

According to Patterson, the redevelopment plan is in compliance with the city’s Master Plan, a list of policies concerning proposed development in the city.

Among the many goals listed in the Plan, Patterson said the redevelopment project would provide adequate public facilities and services at a reasonable cost, as well as provide adequate housing at a reasonable cost.