University to buy back old grad college plot

The original home of the graduate school on Bayard Lane may soon be reincorporated into the University as additional housing for faculty, staff and graduate students, if a pending land sale is realized.

When the University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP) completes its relocation to nearby Plainsboro in 2010, it will leave behind several vacant properties near campus, including the Merwick Rehab Hospital at 79 Bayard Lane.

Because of the site's proximity to campus and its historical background — the University owned the land at the beginning of the century — UMCP plans to sell the property back to the University, which has earmarked it as a potential new housing development.

The rehabilitation function served by the Merwick site will be assimilated into the UMCP's new $350 million Plainsboro location, Princeton HealthCare System spokeswoman Carol Norris said. Princeton HealthCare System is UMCP's parent company.

The details of the sale have not been finalized, however, and the plan is also under review by the Borough of Princeton's Regional Planning Board. The board will decide whether to allow zoning changes to that property, University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said.

"We don't have any specific plans," he said, adding that the Merwick property is adjacent to the Stanworth Apartments, which are currently used as faculty and staff housing but are zoned for residential developments of a higher density than the Merwick site allows.

"If we did obtain the property, we would consider the two sites together," Durkee said. "What we hope will happen is that the Borough will apply the same zoning" rules to the Merwick site as to Stanworth.

Borough mayor Mildred Trotman said she "would like to see housing on that site" but has some worries about new construction.

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"I am really concerned about the architectural style of the new buildings," she added. "I wouldn't want to see anything monolithic."

Trotman also said she would prefer smaller units — four or five in total — of either one or two stories.

"The site abuts a dense area already," she said.

The Regional Planning Board has also asked for an evaluation of the site from the Historical Preservation Committee, Trotman said. She added that this could play a large part in determining the eventual role of the property.

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In the past, University construction has generated friction between the Borough and the University over tax issues, but Durkee said that this would not be the case with the Merwick site.

"Everything we've talked about doing on that site will be a taxpaying use. Those lands are currently tax-exempt," Durkee said. "Therefore, they would pay full taxes [after becoming University property] and will add a substantial amount of tax revenue to the Borough."

Durkee did not reveal the projected cost of the purchase of the property, but said "[the cost] has certainly been discussed."

Though the Borough has not made much progress on evaluating the site since a meeting last month, Trotman said the Master Plan Subcommittee would convene in early April to deliberate the issue further.

The land, originally owned by the University, was bought in 1915 by Paul Matthews, the Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey at the time. In 1955, Matthews' son Thomas donated the property to UMCP.

The site was the original location of the University's graduate college, the first residential graduate school in the nation.