Project for 325 apartments behind Marlton Crossing Shopping Plaza in Evesham goes to Planning Board.

A public hearing on a proposal for 325 apartments that would replace a 38-year-old low-rise office complex next to the Marlton Crossing Shopping Center will be held this month by the Evesham Planning Board.

Fifteen percent of the apartments, or 49 units, would be reserved as affordable housing on property now holding the Marlton Crossing Garden Offices bounded by Centre Boulevard, Lippincott Drive and Old Marlton Pike.

The public hearing and board meeting to rule on the application for preliminary and final major site plan approval for the four-story building are on the October 16 agenda for the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the courtroom of the municipal building at 984 Tuckerton Road.

Plans by developer Marlton Crossing Dev AMS LLC of Fort Lee follow Township Council's designation of the property as an area in need of redevelopment. 

"The purpose of the Centre Boulevard Redevelopment Plan is to permit the redevelopment of the existing, aging office park at 100-112 Centre Boulevard into a multifamily residential development supported by Smart Growth principles such as walkability, compact design and varied land use," according to the redevelopment plan adopted by Council in February. 

"It is, I think, going to be a beautiful addition to our overall community here in Evesham," Mayor Jaclyn Veasy said before the 5-0 Council vote.

Some residents at the Council hearing in February said they opposed the construction of apartments on the 8.8-acre site.

"You're changing the town," Dr. Robert A Marchinek, a resident who has operated his dental office in the Marlton Crossing office park for 30 years, told Council members. "You're making it more high density. That's not my vision of the town that I've been in for 39 years and really enjoyed being here."

Resident Carol Houck, who lives on Ashley Court in a development across Centre Boulevard, told Council that the increase in traffic worried her.

"I've lived in those condos for 30-plus years and the area has changed so much and has become so congested that I just think that maybe less apartments would be okay, but I think 325 would be quite large for that area," she told Council.

The developer's traffic consultant, Shropshire Associates of Atco, said in a report that it estimates the apartments will generate 30 in and 101 out vehicle trips each weekday during the morning peak hour of 8 to 9 a.m. Afternoon peak hour (4:45 to 5:45 p.m.) traffic would be 78 in and 49 out and Saturday peak hour (12:45 to 1:45 p.m.) traffic would be 67 in and 64 out, according to the Shropshire projections.

A parking garage would contain 329 spaces and surface lots would hold 256 vehicles, according to the application.

Many office buildings across South Jersey stand near empty and demolition of the Marlton Crossing Garden Offices to repurpose the site for residential housing is in line with what is happening elsewhere.

"Since 2017, the vacancy rate of the office park has increased and was approximately 25% vacant in 2022," according to the developer's application.

Developed in 1987, the property preceded the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and has not been substantially renovated since first constructed, according to the developer.

The apartment complex would have an 8,500-square-foot swimming pool, gardens, walking paths, tot lot and picnic area, according to the application.

Marlton Crossing LLC is owned by Rafi Mitnick and Michael Mitnick of Bergenfield, and Ari Mitnick of Lawrence, New York, the application states.

Click to read previous news coverage by 70and73.com:

• Marlton office complex 'functionally obsolete,' needs redevelopment, says Evesham Township report.
• Evesham redevelopment plan: Up to 325 residential units could replace a Centre Boulevard office complex.
• Plan that may include 325 apartments approved by Evesham Township Council for Centre Boulevard.