Complex defies logic

Suppose someone had placed a loaded pistol to my noggin, cocked the hammer and told me to predict the future of a long-abandoned 360-unit partially built apartment complex in Princeton, Texas.

I would have said, under duress, that it would be knocked down, the rubble scraped up and the site turned iinto a park.

Silly me. The City Council instead decided to give the developer some grace and told him to finish the job.

So, the Princeton Luxury Apartment complex is being built again on U.S. Highway 380 just east of the Wal-Mart store.

Let me be clear. I still question the wisdom of granting the permit years ago to proceed with this complex, given the growth occurring in Princeton and the incredible strain on traffic that this complex is going to bring to an already-stressed traffic thoroughfare. I heard about the pending project immediately after my wife and I moved to Princeton. My first reaction was muted, but then I grew to wonder: What was the City Council thinking?

The contractor and the developer got into a snit about three years ago. The contractor walked off the job, leaving it about 30%-ish complete. It sat there vacant, only turning into more of an eyesore with each passing season of inclement weather.

Then, something of a miracle happened. The developer was able to find a contractor to finish the task. Three buildings, though, were knocked down because they were beyond redemption.

The site, though, is humming once again with construction through the winter wind chills.

I've noted already that a city's progress occasionally brings some pain along the way. Princeton is one such city that is a work in progress. Its populaton far exceeds the 17,027 Census figure on the signs entering Princeton. City Council has enacted a building ban on residential developments at least until this summer.

The apartment complex in question is going to open about the time work begins to widen U.S. 380, turning the highway into the last place on Earth you want to be during morning and evening rush hours.

Princeton's progress is proceeding. I only hope now that the apartment complex, once it's finished, will add another jewel to the growing city's crown.