The township’s arts center at Croft Farm isn’t a pretty picture these days.
A former chicken coop, converted decades ago into studio space, is cramped and uncomfortable. And a one-time barn that hosts larger programs is now too small for the community’s needs.
So, Cherry Hill officials are planning a dramatic upgrade at the Bortons Mill Road property, which has held the arts center since 1998. They want to demolish the coop and replace the long, low lean-to with five buildings holding about 4,000 square feet of space for local creators and performers.
The new buildings – pole barns with concrete slabs for their foundations – are expected to rise along a concrete path that will curl around an existing tree near the lean-to. Four buildings will each hold about 765 square feet of studio space. The fifth will hold almost 1,000 square feet.