According to the local team, WinnDevelopment, has 15 multifamily developments in the pipeline in the Garden State. Those projects reflect the diversity of the Boston-based family-owned and operated business’s capabilities, covering various mixed income properties, new construction and acquisitions.

For Senior Vice President David Ginsberg, The Alice is one of the most exciting projects Winn has underway. That enthusiasm derives from a prime Princeton location, top-line sustainability efforts and a commitment to the community.

“We think this is a great place to be doing business,” Ginsberg said, “And we’re all over the state.”

And he means it. A tour of Winn’s New Jersey portfolio could take you from the north in Jersey City, Paterson and Newark down through Tinton Falls to Atlantic City and Bridgeton. In Princeton, The Alice harkens back to the company’s mixed-income market rate developments that are more prominent in Massachusetts or upstate New York.

Ginsberg said Winn is excited to introduce the concept here – as well as elevate it. According to him, The Alice marks Winn’s most “luxury” product, so far.

Approved by the town in 2022, the plan also includes several public spaces, for all Princetonians to enjoy.

Work began on the $63 million project in March 2023. Leasing has already launched, and an on-site model unit offers visitors a first-hand experience at The Alice. The local team said it expects to begin welcoming first tenants in early winter.

At 155,000 square feet, The Alice will include 125 units — 100 market-rate; 25 affordable. The mix will feature: 62 one-bedroom apartments, 26 with dens; 57 two-bedroom apartments, 28 with dens; and six three-bedroom residences.

Seventeen units will be upgraded. The Penthouse Collection will include perks such as higher-end finishes, a wine fridge, heated bathroom towel racks, washlets and more.

Still, the design of The Alice aims to engage a swath of renters. The project is part of several developments that comprise Princeton’s affordable housing plan.

When it comes to tenants, Vice President Stephen Gilbert said they’ve seen a lot of local residents – empty nesters – looking to downsize but stay in the area, as well as working professionals and families. “We’ll give them an option to be in town,” he said.

The building is also “COVID conscious.” It features dens in 40% of the units to accommodate demands of today’s renters. That offers people who may want – or need – to work from home, more space from which to do so. But it’s not the only option — the concept carries throughout the building.

“Throughout all the amenity spaces, on not just the first floor – but all the floors, there are actually little living room spaces and … work pods,” Gilbert pointed out. Centralized at the building’s core, those touches serve to activate spaces for tenants’ benefits.

“So, as you come out of the elevator, for example on level three there’s one of these work lounges; and then we have rentable storage pods as well, on the second floor. … We have a children’s room, to have more of a play area, as well as the work pods,” Project Director Ben DeCarlo explained, highlighting the building’s capability to serve a diverse demographic.

Additional amenities at the “extremely dog friendly” property will include an accessible roof deck, a dog spa and dog run, fitness room, community kitchen, club room and more.

Princeton-specific touches are also planned. Winn said it is working with local artists to provide pieces for the building.

Working together

Generally, Winn has found success with its public-private partnerships. And in Mercer County, the company found a similarly sustainability-focused partner in the municipality.

“In Princeton, all of that was very value added,” Ginsberg explained.

Dating back to the beginning of the now four-year process, Winn said the list of development objectives from the municipality were very clear: mixed-income housing, a commitment to sustainability, and the incorporation community assets and engagement. At The Alice, public financing from the municipality will help fund a new park and dog park, available to all.

And that theme carries throughout Winn’s portfolio — whether it’s in Rochester, N.Y., or Jersey City. “We’re working with the government officials in a very material way, more so than just submitting for planning and getting permits,” Ginsberg said. “We are usually collaborating actively.”

While positing that it could stem from Winn’s extensive work in the affordable and market-rate spaces, Ginsberg said that regardless the goal is the same: to figure out what the town actually cares about and try to incorporate that into the product.

This point is underscored by other recent Garden State projects from Winn.

In Paterson’s Historic Great Falls neighborhood, the company included housing for grandparents raising grandchildren in its plans to serve local needs. Meanwhile in Tinton Falls, it built a $23 million, 70-unit apartment community for veterans, including veterans transitioning from homelessness.

“It’s the opposite of cookie cutter-type development,” Ginsberg said. “Every single project – from naming convention to who lives at the property, demographics and design – is completely unique.”

He added, “We think a big part of our brand is that every place and property is one-of-a-kind.”

The Alice is no exception – and there has never been an “Alice” before.

The property is named for WinnCompanies founder Arthur Wind’s late wife, Alice Winn, also mother to Winn CEO Gilbert Winn and sister to Gilbert.

Beyond the sentimental aspect, part of the property’s singularity also stems from the fact that Winn is not a merchant builder, Gilbert said. In fact, the company still owns many of the properties it developed a half-century ago, including the first, second and third properties it ever built.

“And often that keeps them affordable – or keeps the affordable component,” he pointed out.

That long-term planning also links back to Winn’s sustainable-minded thinking.

Going for green

The company has had an in-house sustainability team for 15 years. And it’s given Winn an edge, not just in running its properties efficiently, but in helping it keep a proverbial finger on the pulse when it comes to new technologies.

It also helps with efficient planning, because sustainability measures are baked into the design process from the start.

“We are looking 20, 30, 40 years out on every single property we build … so typically that means we spend a little bit more money on our projects. We have a little bit of a higher construction standard, and hopefully that shows and hopefully that resonates with the residents,” Ginsberg said.

When The Alice won approval, Walkable Princeton reported the site was used for dumping fill during the construction of the Princeton Shopping Center, next door, in the 1950s and remained undeveloped since.

The Alice includes many “green” features, which will bring it to LEED-Gold equivalent, such as: high-performance, triple-glazed, European-style windows; solar panels; a green roof; 15 EV charging parking spaces, with capacity for more; compete LED lighting; ENERGY STAR appliances; continuous insulation; all-electric heating; programmable thermostats; low-flow WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures.

For landscaping at the property, the Terhune Project Green Checklist indicates many additions will be native plant species; in particular, those adept in areas of bioretention, providing cover for wildlife and filtering stormwater.

The Alice also includes robust storage for bicycles (up to 100) making it “about as bike friendly and probably EV progressive of any project we’re doing in the country—maybe outside of Cambridge, Mass.,” Ginsberg said.

The added public features at The Alice aim to help foster a hub by building connections across the area: between The Alice, nearby Grover Park, the adjacent Princeton Shopping Center and other developments on the rise.

“This whole area really has been reworked with the town’s leadership and this is sort of the central piece of it,” Gilbert said, adding the area is becoming the second pole of the town.

Real Estate Report: Part I

Advance Realty Investors recently celebrated the start of Bedminster’s first new office development in 20 years: a build-to-suit headquarters for Freshpet. Click here to read – and see – more.

He spoke about the neighborhood aspect of the area – it’s where you go to the hardware store, to grab groceries or see the dentist. In late August, signs in front of public seats leading to the shopping center’s central, landscaped courtyard advertised movie nights and other activities from the summer calendar. On a weekday afternoon, the center was active – mothers with children, employees power walking as a reprieve from work, and people eating lunch.

Winn will build a 1.46-acre linear park to connect The Alice to nearby Grover Park. Proposed pedestrian bike and walkways along Terhune Road, North Harrison Street and through the property would help foster a walkable environment. A new access road will also provide another entry point to Princeton Shopping Center.

“That’s part of what made this site so exciting,” Ginsberg said of the local environment. “You’re obviously in a suburban location, a very attractive suburban location. But I do imagine, and I hope, that people who live at the property walk to go get their groceries — you still have that walkability.”

Others are taking notice of the synergy at work in Princeton.

At the end of August, New Jersey Future announced six Smart Growth Award winners for 2024. Among them is the Terhune Harrison Mixed-Use Village, which includes The Alice. Almost creating bookends, another multifamily building, Avalon Princeton on Harrison, is under construction on the other side of Princeton Shopping Center.

NJ Future highlighted the plan’s transformational capacity from combining several residential and commercial sites to establish a revitalized, suburban, mixed-use location with affordable housing.

Other partners include: AvalonBay Communities, LRK, Municipality of Princeton and Phillips Preiss Grygiel Leheny Hughes.