Breaking ground in Haddon Heights

A developer will break ground Saturday for a long-awaited residential development in Haddon Heights, NJ.

Bob Meyer Communities, of Medford, plans to build 27 single-family homes on a seven-acre expanse of ground overlooking Camden County's Haddon Lake Park. The new neighborhood will be called Glover Mill Village, taking its name from the historic textile mill that once operated on the site; a $50,000 state grant will underwrite development of a one-acre park adjacent to the homes.

"It's the largest development we've had in our town in recent history," Mayor Ed Forte says, adding that the houses are expected to sell for $400,000 and should attract buyers from inside and outside the borough.

"We've been waiting for this," says the mayor. "The idea was to have this done a few years ago, but we hit some roadblocks."

Indeed: As part of a larger redevelopment effort called Project Garnet, Glovers Mill Village became a political football during the term of the borough's previous mayor, Scott Alexander, who launched the redevelopment effort.

I asked Forte if his predecessor would be invited to the groundbreaking.

"We're just getting this project off the ground, and we didn't want to make a big thing of it. We didn't send out invitations," Forte says, adding, "all are welcome."

--KEVIN RIORDAN