Potential demolition sparks worries about losing a leafy Camden County suburb’s ‘historic character’

Front lawns on the tree-lined streets of Haddon Heights have sprouted yellow signs with a message: Save Our Historic Character.

Distributed for $20 each by a grassroots group called the Heights Heritage League, the signs are a response to a proposal under consideration by the borough planning board.

Developers want to replace a 121-year-old house and adjacent commercial structure at the corner of Station Avenue and White Horse Pike with a three-story building that includes ground-floor retail space and 12 apartments. It also would have a green roof with a deck.

“This would be a cornerstone property for downtown,” said Anthony Gioielli, of Mickleton, who with business partner Gary Farrell owns Broken Ground Properties. Their company develops and manages residential and commercial real estate in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Said Farrell, a Cherry Hill resident with deep family roots in Haddon Heights: “More and more people are saying to us that they wish the borough had a real downtown.”

But some residents in the comfortable Camden County suburb of 7,500 said they’re concerned about an aggressive redevelopment push by Mayor Zachary Houck’s administration. The three-block Station Avenue business district as well as sections of the White Horse Pike (Route 30) and Black Horse Pike (Route 168) have been declared rehabilitation or redevelopment areas.

Changes have largely been incremental for decades, particularly along Station Avenue, a pleasant, low-key business district characterized mainly by long-established mom-and-pop stores, restaurants, and services. While vacancies are few, aging or underutilized commercial properties are more numerous, the mayor said.

But opponents said the rehabilitation and redevelopment designations pave the way for demolition and construction on a larger scale and with greater impact on adjacent residential neighborhoods — as well as “historic character” — than has been common in Haddon Heights.

The community “really doesn’t know what’s going on,” said Margaret Westfield, a preservation architect who lives with her husband, Michael, also an architect, and maintains a joint practice in Haddon Heights.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty about where this redevelopment program is going to take us, and whether we’re going to recognize our main street when it’s over,” she said.

A planning board meeting has not yet been set for the Broken Ground Properties proposal. The borough council will have the final say.

Westfield also noted that, separately, another major White Horse Pike project — a 36-unit senior housing development to be built next to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church — has begun moving forward after three years.

Although that plan aims to ensure the congregation’s future, it, too, has raised some concerns about altered streetscapes and additional traffic in the 1.57-square-mile borough.

In the early 1980s, Haddon Heights residents fought to have the White Horse Pike declared a historic district to help maintain at least some of its once-grand residential fabric.

The borough was developed as a railroad suburb of Camden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with a four-quadrant grid of wide streets, houses set back from the sidewalks, and garages in the rear. Construction of a Camden County park along Kings Run in the 1930s, as well as municipal green spaces, add to its overall walkability.

Houck said that contrary to what has been asserted on some social media posts, there have been no secret meetings or clandestine arrangements behind the redevelopment effort.

”This is not ‘Zach’s idea’ for downtown. I want this to be an open and public and transparent process,” said the mayor, 37, a married father of two young daughters who’s in the final year of his first term.

The proposed mixed-use complex would not only replace the house — the first floor of which has been noticeably vacant for 10 years or more — but also add residents and retail opportunities at the business district’s busy gateway, he said.

“Change is hard, and I know some people are afraid this project will set a precedent for the entire downtown and that another building will be torn down next and some monstrosity will be built there,” said Houck. “But I love our downtown. I love our small-town feel. I agree with those [Save Our Historic Character] signs.”

Mark Standring, a Heights heritage member, said he’s frustrated that “some people in town want to make [redevelopment] an all-or-nothing” issue.

“We want to see progress and more businesses and a more thriving Station Avenue, but not at the cost of certain [historic] properties,” he said. “The Haddon Heights ‘brand’ is historically minded. There’s a sleepy element to the town that I didn’t like at first when I moved here from Collingswood. But I’ve come to appreciate it.”

Doing paperwork at a table inside the Local Links Market Cafe at Station and East Atlantic Avenues, proprietor Joe Gentile described himself as “totally pro” redevelopment.

“But I have questions,” he said. “What will this redevelopment look like in three years? What will be the catalyst for it? Collingswood painted a clear picture of what they wanted and went after it. But what is the vision to for Haddon Heights? That’s a fair question.”