Calling it “South Jersey’s premier destination,” a spokesman for a Philadelphia real estate developer says his firm now is ready to plunge ahead on the latest project for the once proud glory of horse racing on the site

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The spokesman, Peter Rushing, says Edgewood Properties plans to ask planning commission approval tonight for controversial construction of three and four-story apartment buildings to house 1,600 more residents on the sprawling, 221-acre site.

It is hard to realize it has been seven years since the dewyeyed plans for a sophisticated park-like “downtown,” with small cafes and sidewalk restaurants were announced for the track site, replacing Bob Brennan’s dream of the racetrack of the 21st century. Instead, Garden State today is a hodgepodge ranging from big box retailers like Home Deport and Best Buy to $250,000 and up condominiums and townhouses to subsidized apartments for low-income families.

One longtime Cherry Hill resident said, “There was going to be a huge swath of open fields with an amphitheater and playing fields. Where’s all that stuff now?”

Another frequent and vocal critic of the present conglomeration shows pictures of an idyllic New England community with cafes and galleries and says, wistfully, “This is what we could have had.”

One of the seemingly obligatory “commentators” whose letters now accompany almost every story, wrote, “Sorry, Cherry Hill, you blew it. The Town Center plan could have worked, but too many surrounding residents complained about things that were counter to their (and the town’s) best interest.”

The reader wrote about lack of parking space. For horsemen who remember Garden State’s vast parking lots, that must bring a smile to their faces.

Racegoers and racetrackers -- owners, trainers, drivers -- recall a different dream, with marble floors and lavish dining areas and a big mile track, now long gone with creator Brennan.

(Harness Tracks of America)