OUR VISION:
REDEVELOP TO CREATE JOBS,
PROVIDE HOUSING & SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH
Our vision for the so-called "Health and Ag" buildings is for Tim Sullivan and the NJEDA to take advantage of a ready made opportunity for a city and state partnership and seek proposals from developers and designers to creatively reinvent and reuse these prime downtown properties. Here's a few reasons why:
THESE BUILDINGS HAVE HISTORICAL & STRUCTURAL VALUE: Great cities understand the importance of preserving unique structures such as these, designed by internationally renowned pioneers of modern architecture, Albert Clauss and Jane West Clauss. They have been cited by the New Jersey Historic Preservation office as architecturally significant and eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would allow a developer to qualify for Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credits. We can inspire a growing sense of civic pride as we recognize and applaud what has gone before and look towards what is to come. Additionally, sustainable cities benefit from dense development, yet the cost of tall structures and steel construction is often cited by developers as prohibitive. In this instance the steel structures exists and do not need to be built from scratch. WE CAN SUPPORT A HEALTHY DOWNTOWN: An adaptive re-use of these buildings is likely to incorporate PILOT income for Trenton, representing new and desperately needed revenue.Redevelopment in the near term will benefit the City’s downtown commercial district, adding new customers for local shops within a 5-minute walk from these buildings. TRENTON DOESN'T NEED MORE PARKING: Removal of urban buildings with the hope of new development to come has been known to result in long-vacant sites after many decades of hoping something will happen. With no immediate plan in place for the vacant sites that would result from demolition, it would extend the unsightly sea of surface parking that already dominates this area. |
THIS ISSUE,
IN THE NEWS: Trenton Downtowner: "Preserving the Legacy of Trenton's Brutalist Architecture" Read Here Trenton Waves Podcast: "Save Trenton's Guggenheim!" Listen Here US 1: "At Stake in the Capital City: Architectural History" Read Here |