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The Large Lot Clearing Next to Route 42 North? The Lofts at Gloucester; 360 Apartment Units and Eventually a Hotel

The Large Lot Clearing Next to Route 42 North?  The Lofts at Gloucester; 360 Apartment Units and Eventually a Hotel
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Readers have been asking about the large lot clearing and leveling effort taking place alongside Route 42 North in Gloucester Township, situated between the College Drive Exit and Davistown Road. This exit is the main one used to access the college from 42 North.

The project is called The Lofts @ Gloucester which was approved in the summer of 2020. It will consist of 360 Apartment Units and eventually a hotel.

We don’t know the full timeline of the project development, but construction crews have been working to level out the property which has a taller slope in the back.

Actually the property has had some level of activity since the new Rt 42 North exit was added about 10 years ago, but it seems activity has picked up considerably. Previously the dirt lot was storage for trailers and related equipment.

Mark from 42Freeway listened in to the Planning Board meeting back in 2020, but just didn’t have a chance to post on the project. From my interpretation, the Apartments are the core part of the project and will see development first.

While a hotel was approved in the 2020 meeting, at the time of the approval it was stated the hotel was on hold as developers had not contracted an operator. Once an operator is identified, they would then submit a new plan specific to the hotel development in the allotted space.

The meeting minutes indicate this project has been in planning a long time, waiting for redevelopment plan revisions.

Another clue this has been on the drawing board for a long time is back in 2014 we interviewed Mayor Mayer who at the time volunteered;

“And don’t forget there is available land on the other side of the bridge, near the College.  I would love to have a hotel at that location supporting the College and the Outlets”, Mr Mayer suggests

Gloucester Township Mayor Dave Mayer, in a 42Freeway interview July 31, 2014

It seems a College/Outlet area hotel has been high on Mayor Mayer’s wish list for quite a while! But again, unless a hotel operator has been contracted in the last year, seems the wait will continue.

The Lofts at Gloucester Apartment and Hotel Project Property: Gloucester Township

The Lofts @ Gloucester

As mentioned, the Lofts @ Gloucester is a large 24.5 acre project which will sit between the College Drive 7B exit of Route 42 North, and Davistown Road. I believe that portion of the exit is actually Love Road, but the sign on Route 42 says College Drive.

Access to the new development will be from three entrances;

  • Davistown Road at the North End
  • On the South end the existing circle will have a new spoke leading into the development.
  • A third entrance will be further up Love Drive closer to the Autumn Ridge apartments, as 2 of the new buildings will extend along Love Drive.

While the project will wrap around the the West and South sides of residential Evergreen Ave, the site plans we have seen show that the project will not connect to Evergreen.

Lofts @ Gloucester Site Plan, with 42Freeway added overlay

The core of this project will be 360 apartment units developed in 12 buildings, each with 30 apartments per building.

The apartment breakdown will be; 144 one-bedroom and 216 two-bedroom.

The apartment segment will include a 5,000 square foot club house. From the site plans we see that a pool is also planned as part of the clubhouse section.

The lot preparation will include the installation of retaining walls to accommodate the site grading differences.

The hotel presented as part of this Planning review was listed as 4 stories with 125 hotel rooms. As mentioned, this will be a later development effort.

If developed, the Hotel will be placed along the Love Road exit, at the corner with Route 42 North.

Two other items to note, which we picked up from the “not so great image quality” site plan that we captured off the zoom meeting… it appears the water retention basin will be on the Davistown Road side of the property, and a H is presented on the plans, which typically indicates a Helicopter landing pad.

A Second Lofts Project for Gloucester Township; Lofts @ Blackwood

This Lofts @ Gloucester project along Route 42 is being proposed and developed by M&T Development, which appears to be affiliated with Edgewood Properties.

Edgewood Properties is a large New Jersey based developer and property manager, most famous in our area for having developed the massive Garden State Park development in Cherry Hill!

The Lofts are one of Edgewood Properties apartment brands… with several operating, or in development in New Jersey; including Barnegat and Toms River.

So this project on Route 42 will be one of the Lofts apartment properties (yeah Mark, we got that already)

Well they are also developing a second area Lofts property over on Mt Pleasant/Barnsboro Road, which sits at the back of Gloucester Township’s Lakeland section.

This other project will be called “The Lofts @ Blackwood” and will actually extend across Gloucester Township and Washington Township.

Currently this is a wooded area along Mt Pleasant and Barnsboro Roads, with the dividing line of the two towns going through it. Once completed the project will be one cohesive Lofts apartment project, but actually some residents will have a Washington Township residency and others will have a Gloucester Township residency!

This past August we wrote about the Washington Township portion of the project which is expected to include a small commercial development at the corner of Barnsboro Rd and Woodbury-Turnersville Road (targeting a pharmacy as a core aspect)

In that same August article we provide information on the Gloucester Township segment of the “Lofts @ Blackwood” project.

The Patch did a nice job covering the Gloucester Township segment of that Blackwood/Lakeland project.

the OTHER Lofts Project: Lofts @ Blackwood to be located at the back of the Lakeland complex

Links and Locations

Lofts @ Gloucester (Approved, core development not started)
Love Drive – Exit 7B of Route 42
Gloucester Township New Jersey

Edgewood Properties