Princeton Council to hold special meeting tonight to vote on PILOT for developer of luxury apartments on seminary site
The Princeton Council has scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. tonight, Dec. 19, to vote on an ordinance that would grant a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement to a local developer who plans to build 238 luxury apartments on Stockton Street at the site of the former Tennent-Roberts campus of the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Under the PILOT, the developer would not pay school, municipal, or county property taxes for 30 to 35 years. Instead, the developer would make special payments to the municipality. The school district was not included in the negotiations and will receive no money from the deal. The county will receive 5% of the payments.
In 2018, seminary officials requested permission to demolish the buildings on the Tennent-Roberts campus to build new housing for students. In response, municipal officials declared the property an area in need of redevelopment. After several months of discussions and neighborhood debate, the seminary put the plans on hold. The seminary later entered a contract to sell the property to developer Jamie Herring, a Princeton resident and member of the Princeton Democratic Municipal Committee.
The 238-unit luxury apartment development will be built on a 4.8-acre site, with 48 units, or 20%, designated as affordable housing, the minimum set aside required under municipal regulations. In Princeton, a multi-family development with a minimum of five new housing units at a density of six or more units per acre must set aside 20% of the units as affordable housing.
The ordinance the council will vote on states that the PILOT is being granted because the project is a “direct benefit of the health, welfare and financial well-being of the municipality and its citizens.” It cites the 20% affordable housing set aside, public open space, creation of construction jobs, enhancement of Princeton’s gateway, and a $200,000 developer contribution to the municipality’s sustainable transportation fund as benefits. According to the ordinance, without the tax exemption, “it is unlikely the project would otherwise be undertaken.”
The tax exemption for the project will run for 35 years from the date of the financial agreement or 30 years from the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the apartments.
According to the ordinance, the initial annual service charge will generate $618,000 in revenue, with total service charges estimated at $48 million over 30 years.
The minimum annual service charge the municipality will receive from the project will be equal to the total taxes levied against the property in the last full tax year it was subject to taxation, according to the ordinance. In 2024, the seminary paid $86,946 in taxes on 108-110 Stockton Street as vacand land, according to public records. The seminary paid $12,809 in taxes for 34-36 Hibben Road. The seminary paid $20,947 in taxes for 92 Stockton Street in 2024.
For the first 15 years of the agreement, the annual service charge will be the greater of 12% of the annual gross revenue or the minimum annual service charge. From years 16 through 21, the charge will be 12% of annual gross revenue, the minimum annual service charge, or 20% of the taxes that would have been levied if the property were on the tax rolls, whichever is greater.
From years 22 through 27, the charge will be12% of annual gross revenue, the minimum annual service charge, or 40% of the taxes that would have been levied if the property were on the tax rolls, whichever is greater. For years 28 and 29, the charge will be the greater of 12% of annual gross revenue, the minimum annual service charge, or 60% of the taxes that would have been levied if the property were on the tax rolls.
In the final stage of the agreement, the annual service charge will be the greater of 12% of annual gross revenue, the minimum annual service charge, or 80% of the taxes that would have been levied if the property were on the tax rolls.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
This is absolutely repugnant. What a complete sell-out government we have in this municipality, and we are all subsidizing this gleefully given gift to rich developers with our extortionate taxes. But what can you expect from the same body that has historically reached similar sweetheart deals with the University.