Opening date for coffeehouse has not yet been determined
Cinnaminson Township officials and a local developer are working to finalize a design for a proposed Starbucks on Route 130 South near Wynwood Drive.
The Starbucks would anchor a rehabilitated shopping plaza that is currently home to a Pearle Vision.
It’s unclear when the popular coffee chain will open because township officials are still working on several details of the project’s design with the property’s owner, Ali Dadyan.
“There were four sticking points. I believe we have a way forward on all four, but nothing was concrete,” Mayor Howard “Bud” Evans said in an email.
“It is back in the hands of the developer and we’re working diligently as a committee to ensure the property owner and the township both get what we want in this outcome — Starbucks in Cinnaminson,” Evans added.
An initial design for the redevelopment of the property was approved last year, but Dadyan presented several changes to that plan during a Township Committee work session meeting May 7.
The changes included a new design for the property’s outdoor light fixtures, the introduction of parking bollards or posts, retaining the building’s current awning and the construction of a retaining wall.
“We are just ready,” Dadyan told members of Township Committee. “We are waiting for your blessing to say ‘Go ahead and do this.’”
“We have a very tight timeline,” he added. “If this is delayed, it might delay opening of the Starbucks for a year.”
Michael Minton, the township’s economic development director, said the township needed to give “more than a blessing” to the project. He said the Committee would have to grant Dadyan a design waiver for all four changes.
Committee decided to delay granting a waiver for the project. Instead, Evans asked Dadyan to work with the township’s Economic Development Committee on the property’s design.
“The owner of the property was advised of the changes he needs to make and will comply,” Evans said in the email. “He has to come back to the Economic Development Committee with the examples of the changes he will make and it will most likely get done soon.”
Dadyan could not be reached for comment in the days after the work session meeting.
During the meeting, he told Township Committee the changes to the original design were made to keep the cost of the project down.
Committeeman Ryan Horner, the governing body’s economic development liaison, said the township was concerned with making sure the project fit the type of development the Committee wants to see on Route 130.
“For us, it’s more about the look and the aesthetics of it,” Horner said. “It’s really on us whether we want that look or not.”
Dadyan said he is willing to work with municipal officials on the look of the property, even after work on the project starts.
“When this building is finished, I can guarantee you that when you look at it, you will be pleased,” he told Committee. “I can guarantee that it’s going to look very nice.”
The renovated shopping plaza, if the project is approved, will include the Starbucks, Pearle Vision and two other business spaces, according to Dadyan.
