Roebling Complex, Trenton, New Jersey From Bridge Building to Bowling
The next best thing to buying the Brooklyn Bridge may be redeveloping the ancient buildings where the cables for the famous span were made by the man who invented steel cable, and who pioneered their use in bridge building.
That project would put you in the heart of Trenton, New Jersey, amidst the sprawling John A. Roebling and Sons complex of huge brick buildings and railroad sidings, dating back to 1848 and idle since 1974.
And if your name is Nicholas Sands, you would look at these 19th Century behemoths and think bowling... Bowling? Well, it’s what Nicholas Sands does, as executive vice president of General Bowling Corp. and Prudential Recreation Corp. (718-591-0600), a Flushing, New York, family of companies headed by Ruben A. Dankoff, president and CEO. And, yes, they do it in inner-city areas and they do it profitably, Sands says. His highest volume bowling center is in Jamaica, Queens (New York), and when he saw the demographics for the Trenton area around the Roebling Complex, Sands says he noticed an uncanny resemblance to the numbers for his Jamaica project.
Bowling Just a Beginning
But bowling is only a beginning for Sands’ vision of Block 2 of the Roebling Complex redevelopment project. The 28-lane bowling center, on the ground floor of a 100,000-square-foot, two-story building, would be accompanied by a sports bar and restaurant, a billiard center, a video arcade and children’s play area and a nursery/day care center. On the second floor would be a 14-screen movie theater. A towering glass lobby would light up the entrance to the complex.
This would be the first new movie theater in Trenton in five decades, and the first multi-screen theater in its history. New theaters are springing up throughout the city region, including a 15-screen Regal Cinema in East Windsor, 10 miles away, and two proposed theaters within five miles of the Roebling site a 24-screen AMC to the northeast, and a 12-screen Destinta to the southeast, both in Hamilton Township. The two Hamilton theaters will nearly double the number of screens in Mercer County, from 38 to 74, when completed. Roebling’s 14 would bring the total to 88 in a county of less than 400,000 population (325,000 in the 1990 census).
The six-acre site contains other buildings, however, and this is where Nick Sands’ imagination, experience and contacts came into play. Armed with a voluminous study commissioned by Sears Roebuck & Co., which identifies the neglected inner cities as an untapped $85 billion retail market, Sands began pulling the pieces together, pieces that make the complex work for the benefit of the city as well as the complex.
The proposal includes a medical arts center, an assisted living facility (directly across the street from a senior citizen housing center in Block 1 of the Roebling project), and a higher education component spearheaded by Drexel University/Nesbitt College of Design Art Outreach Programs.
One Man’s Persistence
Sands is quick to point out two things: First, "It’s not my project, it’s our project," he says, referring to everyone participating; second, none of this would have happened without the dogged persistence of one other man, Anthony Carabelli, a Mercer County Freeholder, former Trenton City Councilman and native of the capital city’s Chambersburg section, where the Roebling complex is located.
Alan Mallach, Trenton’s Housing and Development Director (609-989-3504), issued written acceptance of the proposal shortly before E.S.P.’s press time, giving the group 90 days to firm up the components and obtain approval from the city council. Requirements include a letter of intent from a movie theater operator and the availability of $2 million in equity capital to cover site acquisition, remediation and preparation costs.
"It is our understanding, based on your representations at our meetings, that the commitments of the movie theater operator and the initial equity investment are in place, and are not subject to any material conditions, other than the city’s ability to make Block 2 available to the corporation, that have not already been satisfied by the corporation," Mallach wrote.
The Complex Takes Shape
Block 1of the Roebling project is done, bringing to Trenton its first major supermarket (Edwards) in several decades, along with an Eckerd Drug, several restaurants and retail tenants, in the 111,000-square-foot Roebling Market. The Hardshell Cafe and a computer store have failed but developer Ron Berman of the R. Berman Development Co. (609-393-2700) says a dozen potential replacements are lined up to take their space. Also in Block 1 are a 70-unit senior housing complex, a 66,000-square-foot office building occupied by the N.J. Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, and an interactive science museum called The Invention Factory, operated by Princeton University. Block 2 is directly across South Clinton Avenue from Roebling Market, and is about a six-block walk from the new hockey/basketball arena currently under construction.
John P. Clarke of Clarke-Caton-Hintz (609-883-8383) in Trenton, New Jersey, is the project architect. A former Trenton planning director, Clarke is well known for his work in adaptation and preservation of historic structures, one of which is his office the former West Trenton station on old Penn Central rail line. The firm also specializes in affordable and senior citizen housing projects. Also providing architectural services is Frederick Goldberg Architect P.C. of Roslyn, New York (516-621-0311).
The Principals
Estimated to cost $35 million to complete, the Block 2 project is expected to generate more than $50 million in annual revenues. The proposal, submitted by Gregory M. McCauley, managing director of the Trenton-Roebling Block #2 Development Corp. LLC, (610-459-5900) points out that the development team and the prospective tenants of the project are one and the same, meaning that the tenants will develop and co-own the project. The prospective tenants/developers at press time were:
General Bowling Corp., 67-19 Parsons Blvd., Flushing, NY 11365. Current properties include: Babylon Bowl in West Babylon, New York; Plainview Bowl in Plainview, New York; Herril Lanes in New Hyde Park, New York; JIB Lanes in Flushing, New York; Bowling City of Mt. Lebanon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Noble Manor Lanes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Annandale Bowling Center in Annandale, Virginia; Alexandria Bowling Center in Alexandria, Virginia; and Ten Pin Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia.
Apple Amusement Corp., Alan Weisberg, President, 1107 Gunhill Road, Bronx, New York 10469 (718-655-0404), with operations in restaurants, bowling centers, family entertainment centers, department stores, theaters and shopping malls.
JCP Construction Corp., Joseph Pugliese, President, 200 Oval Drive, Central Islip, New York 11722 (516-582-5450). This is the company Sands uses to build bowling centers for General Bowling Corp. JCP also has built Manalapan Lanes in Manalapan, New Jersey; Syosset Lanes in Syosset, New York; Homestead Lanes in Homestead, Florida; High Point Lanes in High Point, North Carolina, as well as projects in China, the United Kingdom and Turkey. Calling itself "the world’s largest provider of equipment parts to the bowling industry," JCP reports it has sold and installed some 250 bowling installations worldwide, mostly in the Pacific Rim, Europe and South America.
Pennrose Properties Inc., Richard Barnhart, president, 1 Liberty Place, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 (215-989-1100), a developer of affordable rental housing that is venturing into the assisted living field. Pennrose says it is currently working with Genesis Health Ventures (NYSE-GHV) of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, on two assisted living residence projects: Clara Barton Manor (111units) in Edison, New Jersey, and Residences at Chestnut Ridge (80 unites) in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Pellettieri Homes, a Trenton-based non-profit housing sponsor which developed the senior housing in Roebling’s Block 1 phase, and has been asked to partner with
Pennrose and Genesis in the assisted living project.Clearview Cinema Group (973-377-4646) of Chatham, New Jersey, operates about 45 multiplex theaters with more than 180 screens in the metropolitan New York area, primarily in suburban communities such as Somerset, Morris, Monmouth, Bergen, and Hudson, New Jersey; and Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester, New York. Clearview Cinema is a subsidiary of cable and entertainment company Cablevision Systems. Clearview has replaced Fox Theaters as the theater developer for the Roebling project.
McCauley Restaurant Corp. (Gregory McCauley, 392 Baltimore Pike, Suite 203, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania 19317, 610-459-5900), which has, in partnership with General Bowling and Prudential Recreation, owned and/or operated some 25 retail food establishments on the East Coast. The McCauley family is the owner of 11 Wendy’s Restaurants and three other independent restaurants. Gregory McCauley is managing director of the development company for the Roebling project.
Drexel University - Nesbitt College of Design Arts, Outreach Program, Michael Adams, Dean, 33rd & Market Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 (215-895-2386). Programs include structural architecture; architecture; fashion design; graphic design; interior design; hotel, restaurant and institutional management; media, radio/TV; culinary arts; executive chefs; photography; and drama.
Iacocca Institute, Lehigh University, 111 Research Drive, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015 (610-758-4086), which operates "the global village for future leaders," offering executives workshops on global competitiveness including: leadership and entrepreneurial skills; business and industry knowledge and understanding; and global networking relationships.