Late last week, the developer unveiled a new, "improved" version of his vision, and local officials seem to be on the same page with this one. Essentially, the new plan leaves the office space component intact, about one million sf altogether. The housing component of the $500 million project, meanwhile, has been cut from about 1,800 units to 1,200. The retail component has been cut by about one-third as well.

Replacing the housing and retail cutbacks will be more open space, including a 40-acre park at the center of the new Garden State Park, as it will be called. A 1,500-seat pavilion, which was expected to be retained as a community center, will now be torn down to make way for the park, which will have a landmark fountain utilizing existing equine statuary.

The issue for local officials headed by Mayor Susan Levin and the Cherry Hill planning board is one that frequently arises on a New Jersey landscape dotted with sprawling suburban and rural townships with no central focal points. Call it an identity crisis, but what Cherry Hill wanted from the new Garden State Park was "the downtown we never had, a sense of community," Levin said at the re-unveiling.

Ironically, the new plan, if approved by the planning board as expected, will be Levin's swan song after 14 years as mayor of this suburban Philadelphia community of 70,000. Pending confirmation by the state senate, she will become the commissioner of community affairs in the cabinet of new Gov. Jim McGreevey.

Also part of the revised plan for the project was a goal of making it more pedestrian friendly. Fifteen-foot-wide sidewalks will be lined with mature trees, and the site plan's configuration will be such that all of the community's features will be within a 10-minute walk of a train station that will be constructed.

Finally, Realen had originally mapped out a 10-year development schedule for Garden State Park, but at the behest of the planning board and the mayor, that has actually been shortened to just five years. Demolition of the racetrack's buildings is expected to begin by mid-year.

"It's taken some pain getting to this point," Maloomian told reporters at the unveiling. "But it looks like we're ready to move on it."

Instant Insights /

Developer 'Tweaks' $500-Mil Racetrack Redevelopment

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