|

Thanet property sold to New Jersey real estate group

The Thanet property at 100 and 101 Thanet Circle has been sold to the KABR Group, a New Jersey real estate development and management firm based in Ridgefield Park, for an undisclosed sum. The property, currently assessed at $10.2 million, generates $233,910 in annual property tax revenue, according to property tax records.

CBRE, a real estate services firm that represented the seller, announced the sale on Monday. KABR specializes in repositioning distressed properties. The company develops, manages and sells residential and commercial properties, and leases apartment buildings in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

The two office buildings at Thanet Circle were slated to become the headquarters for the administration of the Princeton Public Schools. Office space not used by the district would have been rented out as part of the district’s plans. The district also planned to keep schools buses at the property. Those plans were part of the original proposed $130 million bond referendum. The referendum was scaled back to $27 million, and plans for a new administration building and other additions and renovations were tabled until next year.

District officials and municipal officials still hoped the Thanet property could be purchased for the district next year. Some officials and residents were pressuring the school district to move the site for a proposed 5-6 school to the Thanet property. One official told Planet Princeton the goal was to keep affordable housing off the Thanet site and free up the old Valley Road School site for the municipality’s use so that the municipality can consolidate its employees and sell or lease the Monument Hall building for a hotel. The Valley Road School property has been valued at about $13 million, though some local developers say it is worth much more.

In May, the school board voted to buy the 15-acre Thanet site for $6.5 million. Previously, the board had voted to purchase the former SAVE property on Herrontown Road to house the district’s transportation department and buses. The board then decided to buy the Thanet property instead. But then that portion of the referendum was tabled after public outcry about the costs of the referendum and concerns about the zoning and buses at Thanet. If the Thanet property had been purchased by the school board, it would have been taken off the tax rolls.