College of New Jersey opens private residential complex

EWING, N.J. - The College of New Jersey feels a little bigger.

Students moved in this week to Campus Town, a retail and housing complex attached to the campus but built and operated by a developer. The eight main buildings will have restaurants or shops on the first floor - such as a bar, a sushi restaurant, or a nail salon - and student housing above.

Only Barnes & Noble has opened so far; the other shops are expected to be finished over the course of the year. Before classes started Tuesday, 446 students moved into the new apartments.

"I love the apartment; it's great. I love going in the house," said Sierra Rosario, 20, a junior from Princeton studying elementary education and sociology.

Sitting on a bench in the Campus Town complex, Rosario said she had been looking for the benefits of campus housing but with the independence and amenities of private housing.

Campus Town, with its brick buildings designed to mirror the college buildings across the street, fit the bill.

The furnished apartments are operated by Monmouth County-based PRC Group, which leases the 12-acre site from the school. PRC worked closely with the college to develop the complex.

School police patrol Campus Town, and "blue light" towers that connect to campus police dot the site.

Campus Town housing does not include the lounges or commons areas typical of dorms, but tables are available in a small common study area.

"It's cool, because you can be really independent; you have your own kitchen, your own living room. Definitely different from a dorm," said Alexis Trotta, 20, a junior from Howell, Monmouth County, who is one of Rosario's roommates, and also is studying elementary education and sociology.

"Here, it's kind of like the feeling of being in a house, but [also] a community, being on the campus," she said.

The demand for Campus Town's hybrid housing - on-campus location and community, off-campus amenities, and privacy - was clear soon after the lease applications opened a year ago. In those first three weeks, more than 300 students applied for the 446 spots. In the first three months, all housing was booked. A waiting list had more than 100 students.

In February, the college and PRC announced plans to add two buildings in 2016 to accommodate 166 more students.

That will help bring students out of the neighborhoods, where town-gown relations can be strained when students' and residents' lifestyles clash. Students make up more than 15 percent of Ewing's population during the school year.

Curt Heuring, college vice president of administration, said he hopes the retail space will provide areas for what he describes as positive interactions between students and the larger community.

Barnes & Noble initially considered a narrow, college-centric concept for its bookstore, Heuring said, but the college advocated beefing up the general interest sections of the store.

After all, Heuring said, students provide a built-in base for nine months out of the year; retailers will have to do without them for the other quarter.

Brickwall Tavern, a bar in Asbury Park, signed on to open in Campus Town because of a void of entertainment options near the campus, said Mark Hinchliffe, a junior partner at Smith, the company that owns Brickwall and other restaurants credited with helping revitalize Asbury Park.

"Given that there's not really much of a restaurant or bar scene - really, any kind of hospitality scene - going on out west in Ewing, it just seemed like the right opportunity for us to bring a brand like Brickwall," he said.

Many students, citing the lack of options in Ewing, now go home or drive to Princeton or Trenton to hang out on weekends.

"Hopefully by winter semester, there'll be more stores open, so if we wanted to go out and get frozen yogurt, we don't have to go off campus, you don't have to have a car," said Danielle Flood, 22, a senior from North Brunswick who is studying biology.

Flood lives with her friends in a house off-campus, saying Campus Town's prices were too high for her. Units this year are renting for $5,462 per semester.

"This is pretty high-end, relatively expensive housing for a student," Heuring said.

But the restaurants and shops will benefit everyone, he said.

Flood is looking forward to the sushi restaurant and - "I'm a huge book lover" - already has visited Barnes & Noble. Being able to get Starbucks from the cafe is a plus, too.

"I'm just excited for the new developments," she said. "The greater variety in meal options, stores, and just social activities for TCNJ will make a really big impact on how many students will want to come to TCNJ in the future."