Local Jewish leaders have unveiled architectural plans for the proposed new $28.5 million Jewish Community Campus of Princeton Mercer Bucks — marking one more milestone on the journey toward realizing the dream of a central Jewish address for the region.

The plans call for the construction of a 78,000-square-foot structure at the heart of the campus site, an 80-acre, tree-lined property bordering Clarksville-Grovers Mills Road in the Princeton Junction section of West Windsor Township.

The site will combine headquarters of the United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks, the Jewish Community Foundation, the Jewish Community Center of the Delaware Valley, Jewish Family and Children’s Service, and the Abrams Day Camp.

The development plans include the transformation of some 20 acres on the western side of the site into an outdoor family recreational area, complete with facilities for the day camp. The area will have an outdoor swimming pool, recreational fields, a baseball field, tennis courts, gaga pits (Israeli dodge ball), partially enclosed pavilions, and activity rooms — all of it anchored by an outdoor amphitheater.

Planners suggest groundbreaking could take place in the spring of 2008. The target date for the opening of the camp and the community campus is the spring of 2009.

“In this phase, about two-thirds of the site will be developed,” said Drew Staffenberg, executive director of the Jewish Community Campus Development Council, as he surveyed two large poster boards depicting concept plans for the site. Sitting with him in the offices of the PMB federation was Paul Schindel, who shares the responsibilities of cochair of the council with Ronald Berman.

The concept drawings, by Perkins Eastman Architects of New York, show the outlines of a multifunctional building designed to serve all segments of the community. The first-level entrance opens onto a spacious lobby, a senior adult lounge, a kosher café and dual kitchen, a gift shop, a multipurpose room that can accommodate 400, several meeting rooms, an early childhood wing with room for 150 children, and an outdoor patio. The main level also includes an indoor swimming pool and a fully outfitted gymnasium and fitness center.

The second level will house classrooms and the offices of the PMB federation, the Jewish Community Foundation, and the Jewish Community Center of the Delaware Valley. The design, which takes advantage of the slope of the property, also allows for a third level at the back of the building that will accommodate the offices and meeting rooms of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service, with a separate entrance to preserve the privacy of clients.

“I think we’ve got a terrific building and a terrific site plan,” Schindel said. “The building is a facility that will truly serve the needs of the broadest possible community.

“The community has been very patient with us over the last couple of years as we have very carefully, methodically stepped through the process of selecting an outstanding architect and a great team of professionals to lay this out,” he said. “We are now ready to implement it.”

That process of implementation is moving forward on two fronts — planning and funding. The council is already engaged in meetings with the West Windsor Planning Board, according to Schindel.

“They have been very positive, very supportive,” he said. “The planning process is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. The next piece is three to four months to get the actual building permit, and then 14 to 16 months of construction, which means that groundbreaking will be a year from today — basically, the spring of 2008.”

“We are pretty much on target,” Staffenberg noted, “which is pretty incredible with the size of this project and all the complexity of the partners — an architect, site engineer, construction manager, landscape architect, security consultant, and kitchen consultant.”

Schindel credited Berman, his cochair, with helping the council to successfully navigate those complexities. “He has the experience, the vision, the history, and the negotiating strengths as a developer to come and devote countless hours of invaluable expertise to pulling together this whole team of experts,” he said.

In a separate conversation, Berman, a Trenton-based real estate developer, urged the community to embrace the campaign for the new community campus. “We have a very exciting project that serves the community’s needs,” he said, “and the community needs to support it.”

In all, about 50 acres of the property, which is accented by groves of trees and wetlands, can be developed, Schindel said. “The real message is that we are in full compliance with state water-management regulations,” he said. “From A to Z, the site complies with state, county, and local regulations.”

Staffenberg stressed that the planners are doing as much as they can about greening the facilities. “We’re using certain kinds of materials for insulating the building,” he said, “and we want to ensure that the heating and ventilation system is as environmentally friendly as possible.”

As for funding the project, the capital campaign for the Jewish Community Campus currently counts about $18 million in the plus column — moneys raised or to be raised from various sources. The figure includes some 146 individual gifts totaling $7.4 million; projected proceeds from the sale of the JCC’s property in Ewing, which is currently under way; various funds administered by the Jewish Community Foundation; and projected proceeds from the future sale of the JFCS property on Alexander Road in Princeton.

Planners declined to say what they expect to get from the sale of the old JCC building in Ewing, maintaining the negotiations are ongoing. They also declined on how much they might earn from the sale of the JFCS building.

Now, Schindel said, the council is going to take the campaign more directly to the community — hosting parlor meetings, sponsoring town hall sessions, meeting with the boards of synagogues and other Jewish organizations, and reaching out through direct mail to the estimated 10,000 Jewish households in the region. In addition, a new Web site is up and running — http://www.jccampus.org/ — where members of the community can learn more about the campus and make online pledges.

“We’re particularly interested in getting as many gifts as possible now in 2007, before groundbreaking,” Schindel said, “because every dollar pledged now gives us additional leverage in terms of actually financing the construction.”

Staffenberg agreed: “The message is that the more money we can raise up front, the less money that goes to the bank for interest and the more that goes into the project for facilities.”

As all of these elements begin to come together, Schindel said, the finish line for the new campus is coming into sight.

“I’m very excited, because we now have something everyone can easily relate to and appreciate and see themselves as belonging to,” he said. “We’re at the point now where people can truly participate by giving and by spreading the word to their friends and neighbors. It really is a thrilling moment.”

“To me,” Staffenberg said, “this project is going to change the history of this community. It’s really being designed as a building that says: We are a community. This is the place to belong, and your Jewish life will be enriched by being part of it.”