One of Evesham’s most notable redevelopment projects continues to move forward, as the Evesham Township Planning Board has granted final major site plan approval for the first phase of the former Tri-Towne Plaza shopping center, now known as Renaissance Square.
At its Aug. 4 meeting, the board granted approval to Phase 1A of the Renaissance Square project, which includes 84,600 square feet of commercial property and a building containing 158 of the entire project’s total 338 residential apartment units.
Evesham Owner LLC, the owner of the project, also sought and ultimately won approval from the board for several amendments to the project’s preliminary site plan the board originally approved last October.
Those amendments included adding a second floor of office space measuring 12,600 square feet to the top of a retail building, increasing two restaurant pad sites from 5,500 square feet each to 7,125 and 8,800 square feet, respectively, and moving the site’s Burger King restaurant to the corner of the inline commercial space nearest Plymouth Drive. That Burger King restaurant is now included in the Phase 1A piece of the project, but the pad site two restaurants is not.
The need to separate the project into a Phase 1A and Phase 1B stems from Evesham Owner now being in discussions with different tenants than those who were originally interested in the sites.
“When we know who the tenants are, we will come in with section 1B, a new section, for final approval for the restaurants,” said Evesham Owner, LLC attorney Timothy Prime.
The board also approved a parking variance sought by the applicant that was required due to the addition of the 12,600 square feet of office space and the increase in the restaurant pad sites.
With those additions, the project’s master redevelopment plan technically called for 958 total parking spaces throughout the project, but the board approved of the 938 spaces that were previously planned after being satisfied with traffic studies from the applicant.
With those approvals from the board in place, the major obstacle holding up any actual construction of the project’s first phase is now the submission of a report from Evesham Owner detailing the results of the various environmental remediation projects on the site to which Evesham Owner had previously agreed.
As a condition of the board’s approval of the final site plan, Evesham Owner must provide the township’s environmental professional with the outcomes of its remedial actions before any construction can begin.
Prime said Evesham Owner was comfortable with the environmental condition of the site, but some final lab results were delayed, which resulted in Evesham Owner being unable to present a complete report to the board before the Aug. 4 meeting.
Before construction can start, Evesham Owner must also provide the township with an environmental investigation report and remedial action work plan regarding a former dry cleaner where Evesham Owner has extracted soil with amounts of chemicals TCE and TCP.
Before Evesham Owner submits those reports to the board, those reports would have to be approved by a New Jersey-licensed site remediation professional who certifies Evesham Owner could commence construction without resulting in adverse public health and safety conditions.
