Princeton Planning Board To Review 85-Unit Thanet Circle Housing Plan

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton Planning Board will hear an application for preliminary and final major site plan approval for the 29 Thanet Circle development.

Toll Brothers is seeking approval to demolish an office building and replace it with an 85-unit housing development at 29 Thanet Circle, according to application documents filed with the municipality.

The proposal, submitted by subsidiary Toll NJ I, L.L.C., calls for 10 stacked townhouse buildings comprising 68 market-rate and 17 affordable for-sale units. The existing two-story, 46,167-square-foot office building and its associated parking areas would be razed to make way for the project.

The site falls within Affordable Housing District 14, a zone Princeton established specifically for the property as part of the municipality's Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan.

Toll Brothers had originally sought inclusion in Princeton's Third Round housing plan, but the municipality declined, according to documents filed. The property was ultimately included in the Fourth Round plan, setting the stage for the current application.

The 9.25-acre property at Block 5502, Lot 5, adjoins the 80-unit Princeton Senior Living community, which was previously developed on an adjacent lot that had also been improved with research and office buildings.

Under the proposal, the 85 units would be distributed across 10 buildings of varying sizes, with affordable units concentrated in two of the buildings.

The development would include 186 parking spaces — 40 surface spaces and 146 in garages beneath the buildings — along with a playground at the eastern corner of the property. Two driveways connecting to Thanet Circle would serve the site.

The project would require the removal of 188 trees, with 198 replacement trees required under municipal regulations. Stormwater management would be handled through a bioretention basin at the front of the property and six pervious pavement retention basins beneath the driveways.

The meeting will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. For the meeting link, click here.

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