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New York Post, Saturday, December 11, 2004
N.J. PICKET LINES
By ADAM BONISLAWSKI
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December 11, 2004 -- When attorney Tom Halm showed a colleague the house he planned to buy in Washington Township N.J.'s Town Center development, she remarked, "It's almost like you're moving into the town from 'The Stepford Wives.'"
"In a way, it's true," he says with a chuckle.
Halm isn't moving into robot suburbia; it's rather that the Mercer County development, which lies some 10 miles east of Trenton, boasts the sort of close-knit feel and picket-fence preciousness one finds more often in a Hollywood movie script than a typical suburban subdivision.
That wasn't something that happened by accident. Washington's Town Center was built according to the principles of an architectural movement called New Urbanism - which seeks to bring the charm and community of small-town America to newer developments by building them in a way that encourages socializing, neighborliness and communal activity.
In contrast to your typically expansive suburban developments, the Town Center offers tightly packed dwellings on small lots.
Houses sit close to the sidewalks, and parks and green spaces dot the area. Back alleys wind behind the buildings, and a large lake fringed by a walking path and filled to the brim with geese sits in the middle of the development.
"It's really like living in a neighborhood, which is nice for someone who grew up in the city like I did," says Christina Krone, who with her husband moved to the Town Center last February from West Windsor. "We didn't want the hassle of a big house anymore."
The Krones are empty-nesters, but most residents are undeniably young families seeking space. Small children are ubiquitous; strollers and minivans are everywhere. In the afternoons the sound of kids on the playgrounds echoes through the streets, rivaled only by the quacking of the geese on the lake.
Stay-at-home mom Erin Wright and her husband moved to Washington Township from Chicago a year ago. She calls the Town Center a good transition point between urban living and the suburbs.
"The fact that we could put our kids in the strollers and walk to get coffee, groceries - it was appealing," she says. "We're out here everyday, as long as the weather is nice, going to the store, getting haircuts."
For the moment these errands are done at the Foxmoor Shopping Center next door. More shops and restaurants, perhaps even a bar, are planned for the development.
Retailers should move in by late summer of 2005, according to Danielle Brunelli of RJ Brunelli & Co., the brokerage handling the development's commercial leases.
"My wife told me that if we get an Ann Taylor, that's where I'll always be able to find her," Halm says.
Despite somewhat rural roots, Washington is centrally located - close to a number of major roads and just down the way from Princeton.
"My favorite thing about the neighborhood is the sense of community," Wright says, "but a close second is the proximity to the Turnpike. You're midway between New York and Philly, 40 minutes to the shore."
Not that anyone looks to be in a hurry to leave. The extent to which residents have found themselves interacting with one another seems to shock even them.
"I've been surprised at how neighborly everyone is, truly," says Wright.
"We've got, like, 15 houses on our block, and everybody socializes everday," says Halm.
He mentions a recent Halloween parade, plans for progressive dinners (see sidebar), poker games and football-watching parties.
"When you bought a house here, you bought into the idea of this sort of community," Halm says.
Which is also to say that it's not for everyone. If it's seclusion and a several-acre lot that you're after, Washington's Town Center probably won't be your thing.
Those who are interested in the Town Center
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