A First Look at Inwood at Renaissance Square
Leasing has now begun on the latest entry in the growing pack of suburban apartment complexes that offer urban style and amenities, this time in South Jersey.
After turning onto the short drive off Route 70, you’re greeted by a manor-like forecourt that welcomes you to Inwood at Renaissance Square. The building adds a touch of class to the strip mall that brackets it. | Photos: Ira Wexler Photography via Canoe Creek Development and RD Management
Does anyone out there remember the garden apartment complex?
Actually, the garden apartment community, a 1930s innovation in American urban development derived from a 19th-century British social reformer’s utopian vision, remains alive and well, as families and individuals continue to find much to attract them to the scores of garden apartment communities that were built in this area from the 1950s to the 1980s.
But since then, it’s become increasingly difficult to tell a new suburban apartment complex from a new urban one. Today’s suburban apartment developments consist not of low-slung two-story boxes sprinkled across green lawns but of large single buildings of four to seven stories — in other words, they look like many an apartment building being built in the city.
That’s because their builders seek to offer features like the ability to walk to nearby shopping, or even to include shops themselves, that those very-low-density garden developments are ill-suited to provide. Yet they remain set amid greenery lest anyone forget they’re not in suburbia. And they usually contain bigger apartments than their city cousins.
The latest entry in this urbanity-retrofit derby: Inwood at Renaissance Square, a brand-new apartment community on Route 70 in Marlton, N.J.
Jointly developed by Canoe Brook Development and RD Management, this new apartment complex in Evesham Township sits right between two shopping centers: Tri-Towne Plaza, an older 1970s strip mall to its east that just got a makeover, and a companion strip center to its west that went up along with the apartment building. The three-building complex together bears the name “Renaissance Square,” and RD Management’s aim is to make this a fully realized live-work-play community where residents can meet many of their everyday needs on foot.
Inwood forms the “live” leg of the three-legged live-work-play stool. Like its contemporaries in Cherry Hill, Exton, King of Prussia, and elsewhere in this region, it offers residents upscale amenities and roomier apartments. Like most of them, it also takes advantage of a compact site bracketed by retail and office space to bring an extra level of convenience and additional features.
Breakout work/study spaces in the Inwood club room
What are those features? Let’s start with the building itself. It’s been designed for the work-from-home era, with community facilities that include a spacious club room that also contains conference rooms, work and study rooms, and space for casual gatherings and meetings.
Main living area in a model apartment
Model apartment bedroom furnished as a study/den
The apartments themselves are plenty roomy too, with totally open main living areas with kitchen islands that can accommodate extra guests. High ceilings and large windows fill them with light, and they come wired for both Comcast Xfinity cable and Verizon Fios service, a plus.
Club room viewing lounge and fireplace
And the developers didn’t forget the play part. The club room includes a pool table, a fireplace and several big-screen TVs. There’s also a golf simulator, an indoor children’s play space and a fitness center. There’s also a multipurpose party room with a wet bar and dining facilities that can be reserved for private events.
Pool and outdoor lounge
Outside, a resort-style pool and outdoor lounge fill the building’s rear courtyard. The lounge has a fireplace and big-screen TV; grills flank it on either side.
And there will be even more outdoor recreational amenities on the surrounding premises. Canoe Brook and RD Management plan to turn part of the Route 70 right-of-way in front of the complex into a public park with jogging paths, a children’s playground, picnic stations, a dog run and ponds.
Bedroom in model apartment
Shops and services already at Renaissance Square include a Virtua health clinic and a day care center. Leasing of the commercial space has been going on for a while; leasing of the apartments has just begun.
Which doesn’t mean that no apartments have been spoken for yet. “We’re already experiencing a high level of leasing velocity from the large number of individuals who joined our VIP wait list for Inwood at Renaissance Square, which is ideally suited to meet the needs of the modern renter,” Brenda Cioce, president of RHO Residential, said in a news release. RHO Residential oversees property management for Inwood at Renaissance Square.
Jack Tycher, partner at Canoe Brook Development, added, “As suburban housing continues to soar, we’re seeing incredible demand for a property of this caliber in South Jersey, which sets a new standard for luxury living in the region and is indicative of the maturation of the market.”
Evesham Township, of which Marlton is the principal settlement, lies just inside Burlington County. It’s convenient to both I-295 and New Jersey Turnpike Exit 4, and the Cherry Hill Mall is about a 10-minute drive from here. Woodcrest and Ashland stations on PATCO are an equally short drive away for when you need to get into the city with minimal hassle. And Evesham Township has a highly regarded school district, which makes this development one way to get the best of what South Jersey has to offer without shelling out its high property taxes.
Inwood at Renaissance Square by the Numbers
Address: 111 Route 70 East, Marlton, N.J. 08053
Number of units: 338 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from 602 to 1,238 square feet. Studios have 602 square feet of space; one-bedrooms, 731 to 963 square feet, and two-bedrooms, 1,105 to 1,238 square feet.
Number of parking spaces: A 500-space surface parking lot serves both the shopping center and the apartment building. In addition, 67 private garages with driveways are available for residents to rent for an additional monthly charge.
Pet policy: Pets welcome, up to two per unit; breed restrictions apply for dogs. Contact leasing office for details about deposits, monthly rent and breed restrictions.
Rents: Studios, $1,350 to $1,510 per month; one-bedrooms, $1,400 to $1,650 per month; two-bedrooms, $1,795 to $2,150 per month.
More information: Inwood at Renaissance Square website; inwood@rhoresidential.com; 856-890-9101
Updated Dec. 2nd, 10:58 a.m., to correctly identify RD Management as the project’s co-developer. Updated Dec. 3rd, 8:03 a.m., to correct the construction date of and add information on. Tri-Towne Plaza, the older of the strip malls that flank Inwood at Renaissance Square.
