Town Center Set for Former Farming Community

PLAINSBORO, NJ-This Middlesex County town’s planning board has approved development of Village Center, a mixed-use complex located at the geographic center of the former farming community. The developer is Sharbell Development Corp. of Robbinsville, NJ.

The project has been designed with a neighborhood-like configuration by the Princeton-based architectural firm of Looney Ricks Kiss Architects Inc. Altogether, it will encompass some 85,000 sf of retail and office space, topped by eight residential apartments. The 16-acre site is located adjacent to a 20-unit residential development encompassing a mix of townhouses and single-family homes. A focal point of the project will be Market Square, a heavily landscaped public park.

Sharbell Development Corp. and Looney Ricks Kiss were earlier responsible for Washington Town Center, a heralded and substantially larger neighborhood-style mixed-use project just to the south in Washington Twp., Mercer County. Besides its retail and office components, Washington Town Center has a total of some 700 residential units.

Plainsboro’s Village Center is the result of some three years of planning according to local officials, beginning with a study by the consulting firm of Killinger Alberto. Plainsboro rezoned the former farmland site back in 2000, changing it to commercial development with an urban center density. No timeline has been released for development of the project.