Project designed by Anish Kumar while employed at Hillier >
Capital City Redevelopment Corporation
Redevelopment Parcel Plan
The Capital City Redevelopment Corporation (CCRC) retained Hillier, under the leadership of Anish Kumar, for professional urban design services to prepare a long-term development strategy for the State Capitol complex and district in downtown Trenton. The CCRC’s goal is to build broad consensus for a strategy to develop the State of New Jersey’s existing facilities in Trenton so that they may contribute to the City’s efforts to revitalize downtown as an attractive place to live, do business and visit.
As part of the assignment Anish’s team reviewed the Renaissance Plan, prepared in 1989, to represent the State’s vision for the Capitol District. The team assisted in key decisions regarding modifications to the plan and more specifically to identify appropriate future development opportunities within the District.
Anish facilitated five workshops as part of CCRC’s consensus-building process to better understand existing assets and clarify the complexities associated with intergovernmental coordination within a capital city. These workshops included reviewing the following deliverables: Implementation Activities to Date Map; Urban Design and Development Framework; Vision-Based Development Criteria; Development Capacity Matrix; and Sub-District Identification.
After a review of buildings, infrastructure, and open space, the team developed a catalog of specific parcels, their development type (in fill, site, or reuse), existing uses, and the potential capacity of new uses. The implementation plan views surface lots as primary redevelopment opportunities within the framework of main activity corridors, and does not eliminate parking, but intensifies the use of land.
After implementation sites were identified, the team generated ideas for uses relative to their respective sub-district. Anish identified these sub-districts in order to shape development in a manner that would strengthen existing assets and provide manageable growth clusters. Sub-districts are defined through land use, streetscape, building design guidelines, and gateways and edge treatments.
The City’s sub-districts include the Waterfront, Mill Hill, Arts and Education, Capitol, Downtown, Battle Monument, and Gateway areas.