The campus of Westminster Choir College, which sits adjacent to PHS, is set to be acquired by the Princeton Town Council following the passage of a $50 million bond ordinance. The status of the property, which is currently owned by Rider University, had been uncertain ever since the university decided to move its well-known music program from Princeton to their Lawrenceville campus. The only active organization that remains on the Princeton campus is the Westminster Conservatory of Music, which offers music lessons and other programs to local residents; the remaining 28 acres are largely unused.

In 2018, a Chinese company attempted to purchase the property, but the deal fell through. According to Princeton mayor Mark Freda, the town is acquiring the property in part to prevent the property from being purchased by similar large developers.

“I don’t think there’s very many people that live in town that would like to suddenly see 1000 housing units on that property. I think people hope that there’s some way to maintain some of what’s there — it’s a beautiful property,” said Freda.

Because of the campus’s proximity to PHS and Princeton Middle School, Freda and other town officials also hope that the property could be used by the Board of Education in future expansion efforts. However, all plans are tentative, and the town has not yet had an official meeting with the full BOE.

“The schools need to determine how they use it,” said Freda. “Do you put another school there? Do you close part of Franklin Avenue and put an addition on the middle school? Do you need more fields?”

The current $50 million ordinance only covers the acquisition of the property and minor repairs to the buildings. Any significant capital improvements would require additional funding from the BOE’s budget. Even still, the current bond puts an estimated $329 annual tax burden, over 30 years, on the average Princeton household. To help lower this cost, the town is planning on potentially renting out the space to local organizations.

While Freda said that he has not personally heard any resistance to the plans, he understands that the purchase could jeopardize the only existing program on site — Westminster Conservatory. Dr. Ruth Ochs, the current director of the Westminster Conservatory’s community orchestra, believes that special care must be taken to ensure the institution can continue in Princeton.

“The Westminster conservatory is the strongest and largest musical asset that the Princeton community owns,” said Ochs. “It is a unique and special opportunity for accomplished individuals from different backgrounds [and] generations to come together and unite and learn from each other.”

The curriculum development and programming has become challenging due to lack of clarity of the convseratory’s future, even in the near term, according to Ochs. She also described the uncertainty that conservatory faculty have felt because of unclear messaging from the various parties involved in the acquisition process.

“We have no idea what comes on January 1,” said Ochs. “We’re hoping that things will just continue through the end of the year. Beyond that, it’s quite hard to imagine.”

In the long term, Ochs hopes that the conservatory could potentially partner with existing arts organizations.

“I would hope, if there comes a point when — and this is 100 percent hypothetical — that if the Westminster Conservatory somehow needed to find independent partnership that there are arts organizations in the area that we might find fruitful partnership with,” said Ochs.

Rider University has said that the Conservatory will continue to operate through the end of this academic year. Beyond that, however, plans are still uncertain, according to Kristine Brown, Rider University’s Vice President of External Affairs.

“The municipality has recognized the value of the Westminster Conservatory for the community, and at this time, we expect the Conservatory will continue to operate in Princeton through June 2025,” said Brown. “As the municipality’s process to acquire the property continues, and any future decisions regarding operations on that property are made, we will certainly keep the community informed as we go forward.”

Even if the Conservatory stays under the administration of Rider University, Ochs has expressed concerns regarding the business-focused approach the university has to the music education the Conservatory offers. The Conservatory is ostensibly a non-profit, according to Ochs, which doesn’t align with the way Rider University views the program.

“There’s a very fundamental conflict at play ... it’s business versus the cultivation and the teaching of music, which is in itself, not a sustainable endeavor,” said Ochs. “I would love Rider University to find a way to continue the relationship with the Conservatory because I really like continuing to have a relationship with Westminster Choir College.”

Robert Loughran, the director of the PHS orchestra program, believes that if the deal goes through and Rider University sells the conservatory, the conservatory could potentially return to its old level of activity.

“It would be great to see it return to its vibrancy,” said Loughran. “[The orchestra performs] there every spring, so I’m all for [the purchase].”

One of the major barriers to the acquisition of the land remains the outstanding legal challenges between Rider and the Princeton Theological Seminary. Because the trust that initially founded Westminster Choir College in the 1930s stipulates that the property must be used “for the purpose of training ministers of music for Evangelical churches,” a group of Westminster Choir College affiliates are contending that the town cannot use the land for recreation or building public schools.

However, the town is planning on fighting this lawsuit through the concept known as eminent domain — the power the government has to seize private land and convert it for public use. This power, historically used to facilitate transportation and create public buildings, is being considered in this case to facilitate the potential expansion of the public schools.

“We assume that the legal hurdles will be resolved which will allow us to move forward. But you know, while we’re pretty confident of that, nothing’s for certain until it happens,” said Freda.