The Trenton Times published the following article on February 8, 2013. For the full article, click here.

Trenton Council OKs Glen Cairn deal with Thomas Edison State College

By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton 
on February 08, 2013 at 7:15 AM

TRENTON — Proponents of a project to replace a dilapidated, vacant apartment complex with a nursing school extension won their battle last night following heated debate over whether the city should have held out for more money.

City Council voted by a slim margin last night to approve a proposal by Thomas Edison State College to purchase the Glen Cairn Arms apartment complex and replace it with a $16.7 million nursing building.

The project passed with a vote of 5-2, with Councilman Alex Bethea and Councilwoman Kathy McBride voting against the project.

The sprawling brick apartment complex by the Delaware River has been a stubborn blot on the cityscape for years and the Thomas Edison proposal represented the first clear chance to improve the site. However, it wasn’t an easy proposition for city council to accept because Thomas Edison would pay the city a one-time payment of $300,000 up front and the property would produce no tax revenue afterward.

“We felt rather charitable and generous,” Thomas Edison president George Pruitt said at last night’s meeting. ”I think we have done something good for our city and for that we are proud.”

There was no comment from council members voting in favor of the project, though McBride said the city could have negotiated a much better deal.

“This is a slap in the residents’ face, it is a slap in my face, and quite frankly I do not think that that is a deal that we cannot refuse,” she said.

The plan was first presented to the council at a meeting last month. Pruitt told council members that the college needed more space for its rapidly growing nursing program.

College officials said the demolition of the lead- and asbestos-filled buildings could cost $1.2 to $1.4 million, an expense they would bear as an institution. Pruitt said the college was willing to spend that amount of money to fix up the site even though it had received offers from other property owners in the city to use their land instead.

Best Deal Possible?

Many comments were made in support of the project last night and in previous meetings. It has been described as the city’s best hope to see a transformation of the site, regardless of the loss of taxable property. Prior to last night’s vote, many local officials and residents said that the project would help to alleviate blight and remove an eyesore of a building at one of the city’s gateways.

“This project will eliminate the Glen Cairn Arms and create hope that we can get things done in the city of Trenton,” said resident Michael Walker.

“This is a good thing if just to take down a dilapidated building and put up a state of the art structure,” said resident Lois Krause.

The administration of Mayor Tony Mack had urged council to vote in favor of the project. Freeholder Sam Frisby and MidJersey Chamber of Commerce president Bob Prunetti, a former county executive, also spoke in favor of the plan last night.

“We look forward to the eventual demolition of this eyesore and the raising of a jewel,” said Mack in a statement released last night.

But a vocal group of residents had objected to transferring the property to the tax-exempt state college, arguing that the city should hold out for a commercial buyer who would pay taxes to the cash-starved city or at least require Thomas Edison to pay more for the land.

“I feel that there could have been, and perhaps should have been, a better deal,” said resident James Golden.

Golden went on to say that while he is supportive of the expansion of Thomas Edison’s campus and nursing school, the problem still remains that an increasingly smaller number of property owners pay taxes to support the services that the city provides.

McBride and other residents raised concerns that agreeing to give the property over to the college sets a precedent for other nonprofit and tax-exempt institutions in the city.
But others, like developer Roland Pott, said that because the property has sat vacant for so long, the city was smart to move in on a deal when it had one.

“I think that if something is on the market for 25 years and hasn’t been sold you have to look at accepting the deal that is on the table in front of you,” Pott said.

Pruitt said the college anticipates applying for funding for the project in the next month and will move forward with the demolition of the building and cleaning up the property.

Contact Jenna Pizzi at (609) 989-5717 or jpizzi@njtimes.com