Broad Street Bank

The city’s vision to revitalize downtown Trenton began with the renovation of the historic Broad Street Bank. As such, it was only natural for the residential high-rise to host the “Central Terminal” documentary yesterday for Day 2 of the Trenton Film Festival.

So, why not Trenton? Trenton has all of the above and more. Easy access to New York and Philadelphia, a glorious housing stock, a magnificent river, a thriving canal and adjacent state park, a Frederick Law Olmsted city park, a celebrated history (no rural battlefield here -- two of Trenton's main streets were the Battle of Trenton's front line) and hospitable neighborhoods full of character and diversity.

It had been abandoned for more than a decade, and it was at one time on the list of New Jersey’s most endangered historic properties. But the 12-story, 145,000-sf Broad Street Bank building has emerged from a $30-million redevelopment that has turned it into 124 apartments and 12,900 sf of ground-floor retail and office space.

An oft-quoted proverb states, "It takes a village to raise a child." A similar sentiment holds when a city and its stakeholders pursue urban revitalization. Take inner-city Trenton, NJ and its landmark Broad Street Bank building, for example. Once on Preservation New Jersey's list of the Top Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites, the Broad Street Bank building was recently rescued from a decade of abandonment and neglect by Long Island, NY-based Bayville Holdings LLC. The developer has turned an eyesore in the heart of downtown into a model of adaptive reuse and sustainable, green redevelopment and has successfully had the property added to the National Register of Historic Places, making it the first historically designated green building in Central New Jersey.

There has been more than a little movement at the beautifully restored Broad Street Bank building in Trenton.

The Broad Street Bank building emerges from state’s list of most endangered historic properties as a symbol of downtown Trenton’s revival with its 124 apartments and first floor commercial spaces.

The Broad Street Bank, once one of the state's 10 most endangered historic sites, lost the designation yesterday. The building was the focus of a grand reopening ceremony three years after renovation work began and 15 years after it was vacated by the last of a series of retail tenants.

Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph V. Doria, developer George Fakiris of Bayville Holdings, along with city and state legislators, community and business leaders and lenders, will assemble for the grand opening celebration for the Broad Street Bank apartment and retail complex, the city's first historically designated green building at 12:30 PM on Tuesday, April 15 at 143 East State Street in downtown Trenton.