When the president of one of the largest commercial developers in the Philadelphia region – which also happens to be the largest landowner in Towamencin Township – shows up at a Board of Supervisors meeting to update residents and the public at-large on the redevelopment of the long-vacant The Shops at Town Square at Allentown and Forty Foot roads, excitement brews.
There is excitement about finally finding out the name of the supermarket signed to open at the old Genuardi’s spot. There is fervor about finding out where Panera is going in and when, and the same with Chipotle and Mattress Warehouse.
Mark Nicoletti of King of Prussia-based Philadelphia Suburban Development Corporation was surely going to drop the mic Wednesday night.
Unfortunately, there was no name and all blame.
“Here’s the good news: We did get a food market deal. We were able to get Planet Fitness in, and it’s one of the most successful Planet Fitness locations in the Delaware Valley. We have Chipotle coming, we have Panera coming,” Nicoletti said. “If you notice the whole center, we are invested in making it happen. We haven’t had the momentum that spilled into the center like that.”
The reason that redevelopment is taking forever, in the case of the shopping center’s supermarket, set to open next summer, and the Chipotle/Mattress Warehouse lot, Nicoletti told supervisors, is because the township is holding things up. He called the land development process in Towamencin “very complicated,” the permitting process “grueling,” and said the slow redevelopment “is not by any lack on (PSDC’s) part.”
It all started when, following Nicoletti’s update, Supervisor Joyce Ferguson Snyder asked him when he had an idea as to when the grocery store will open.
“You mentioned Panera … it feels like … we haven’t seen anything change since then,” she said.
Nicoletti said all he wants is the building permits now, instead of waiting for PennDOT’s Highway Occupancy Permits for Forty Foot Road.
“If the board gives us the building permit to build Chipotle – we’ve asked for six months. We could have started six months ago,” Nicoletti said. “I’d definitely be willing to risk the money to build, knowing that we can’t open. You still hold all the cards. We’ll follow all the rules to the code on the construction, but that’s something that could make a difference immediately.”
Supervisors were flabbergasted at the accusation, especially Supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson and Supervisor Rich Marino. Wilson asked the township engineer to come to the township’s defense.
“The staff continually gets blamed for delays here,” said a flustered Wilson.
Township Civil Engineer Mary Stover, of CKS Engineers, said she last reviewed the Chipotle plans at the end of July.
“I have not gotten revised plans for that,” Stover said. “(PennDOT) may be doing permits for driveways. I don’t know what the PennDOT status is.”
Stover said she just issued a review letter for the shopping center construction. Approval was in late April-early May, she said, and she did not receive revised plans until late September-early October.
“We have not been holding up the process,” Stover said.
Nicoletti reiterated that giving PSDC the building permit while waiting for PennDOT is something that could “accelerate construction.”
“I walked out of here in December last year with approval for Chipotle and that triggered the process to do the Highway Occupancy Permit and we’re still waiting,” Nicoletti said. “We’ve reviewed and been approved for the Chipotle building permit for months. We’re waiting for the Highway Occupancy Permit, but anything can happen. If that permit died, we’d be stuck with an empty building.”
Stover repeated that the land development plan has not had final approval. Comments were given to PSDC in July or August and there have been no revised plans submitted, she said.
Marino told Nicoletti the township has “given you everything you’ve asked for.”
“We waived land development, we’ve set the table for you,” Marino said. “If there’s something we can do, let us know.”
Nicoletti said there was something they could do – get him those building permits ASAP.
“We just ask for better communication,” Marino said. “In a sense, it sounds like things are holding it up and we don’t know about it. This is the first we’re hearing of it. The biggest question we get asked as supervisors, other than the sewer sale, is about that shopping center.”
“Everybody wants that developed and opened and back to a vibrant shopping center,” he said.
Nicoletti said the board should be commended with the way it tries to make things happen.
“We worked together seven or eight years on this shopping center. We had our hands full with a completely vacant property, and most of us were scratching our heads trying to figure out why Genuardi’s shopping center was vacant,” he said. “We know how solid our community is, and we had some fundamental challenges that were going on. There was disruption in retail, and online shopping was affecting the model of supermarkets. We’ve been investing in this township for 16 years.”
Wilson said the approval for Chipotle and Mattress Warehouse happened last fall, and by that winter, he talked to the township manager, and Wilson was told the township had not heard from PSDC for two to three months.
“There’s some kind of breakdown here. It isn’t a good thing,” Wilson said.
“PennDOT is the linchpin holding us up, but if we can get the building permits in advance…,” Nicoletti said.
“We’ll look into it,” Wilson said. “You’re going to get that permit.”
Supervisor Laura Smith wanted to address the elephant in the room – the name of the grocery store going into the shopping center.
“Once the name is out, it will drive your occupancy,” she said.
Nicoletti said he could not reveal the name. He signed non-disclosure documents that would send him to court “if I tell you who they are before they open.” In fact, Nicoletti led supervisors to believe he did not even know the true company that signed the lease.
“They are not letting us (reveal the name) until they are close to opening it,” he said. “They use the mystery name ‘Mendel,’ but they are not ‘Mendel.’ There is no company named ‘Mendel.’ They go by that during this process. It’ll be worth the wait.”
“We could use that building permit for the supermarket,” he added.
It seemed Nicoletti’s intent Wednesday was to lay the groundwork for getting the age-restriction lifted off of an apartment project.
He told supervisors that he will be returning soon to make a case to lift the 55-plus restriction on its proposed 226-apartment development between the shopping center and SKF.
Nicoletti said the project was approved for age-restricted, but now he wants no age restriction on the development.
In March 2019, supervisors approved in a 3-1 vote a conditional use request from PSDC to amend the zoning code to establish a residential sector within the Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay district, thus paving the way for the firm to develop an elderly housing and age-restricted independent living community. The Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay District, created in 2016, is a total of 52 acres, and comprises Limited Industrial, Shopping Center and Commercial zones, according to the township code. It is bounded by Forty Foot, Tomlinson and Allentown roads.
“The age restriction is keeping us from developing them,” he said. “We will come back with experts to make that case on why we need that restriction lifted.”
Nicoletti claims 55-plus age-restricted communities do not make money anymore, and the pandemic did not help the situation.
“It turned our whole model upside down,” he said. “I worked with the township and the planning commission on taking models working around the country to turn the shopping center around … You haven’t seen a shovel in the ground because another fundamental change happening in that market is there is no demand for 55-plus.”
Nicoletti said his development is compromised by the “very large 400-unit 55-plus project directly around Ralph’s Corner.”
“We have every incentive to take the zoning and do something with it,” he said. “We will connect with experts that do apartments.”
Furthermore, Nicoletti said SKF just informed PSDC that it is downsizing in two years and vacating 80,000 square feet of office space at its headquarters.
“We’re all in,” he said. “We already invested a significant amount of money. There’s no turning back.”
He said PSDC bought 15 acres of land off Clemens Family Corporation, located next to the shopping center and the proposed Veterans Memorial Park.
“We really want to help make Veterans Park happen,” he said. “We are still fixing up the property, making investments, and doing our part to support the planning commission and continue a conversation, and be able to help them understand what the challenges are and what the trends are.”
“There’s a lot of good and still some work to be done,” he said.
Calling PSDC the largest landowner is far from hyperbole. Here is a list of properties it either owns or is in the process of acquiring, either under PSDC or as the Nicoletti Family Trust. Most of the land is located in downtown Kulpsville surrounding the Sumneytown Pike and Forty Foot/Bustard roads intersection. (PSDC has recently acquired property from Clemens Family Corporation and its entities, specifically property that abuts or accesses the future Veterans Memorial Park location):
· See also:
Signs Point To Progress At Towamencin Town Square — Though Not Mystery Market
Grocery Store Signs Lease for Former Genuardi’s Market Location in Towamencin
Chipotle, Mattress Warehouse Confirmed in Towamencin Shopping Village Revitalization
Planet Fitness Coming to Former Sears Hardware in Towamencin Following Health Club Use Approval
