When the Rush to Redevelop a Transit-Adjacent Parcel Spells Missed Opportunity

Kevin Riordan reports on the larger significance of a recently project approval in Haddon Township in New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. According to Riordan, "Cutting-edge concepts like [transit villages and urbanism] are being brushed aside in Haddon Township, where the Planning Board Monday unanimously approved an old-fashioned, suburban-style apartment complex for downtown."

Developer Fieldstone Associates will spend $52 million to build a 252-unit rental complex, comprising seven buildings and including 373 parking spaces. The new development will rise on a formerly weedy lot on the Haddon Avenue corridor, adjacent to the Westmont PATCO station. The site has been the subject of redevelopment scrutiny, with all of the planning and litigation that comes with it, for over a decade.

Playing both the role of reporter and critic, Riordan, however, writes to lament what might have been. "Though the project will bring several hundred residents to the business district, it seems unlikely to capitalize on the full potential of Haddon Avenue's biggest and best-ever redevelopment opportunity - and unlikely to help make Westmont's long, somewhat jumbled, and thoroughly car-centric main street more of a destination." The article includes more details about the approved development and Riordan's opinion, echoed by members of the public that the development should be chalked up as a missed opportunity.