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Apartments could be added around offices near intersection
A busy corner in Towamencin could soon be the subject of a fresh round of talks on a possible “Main Street” development.
Township officials heard an update last week from developer PSDC on zoning changes that could help spur redevelopment at Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike.
“It’s taken time for our company to assemble enough real estate — a lot of time, since 2006 we started this,” said developer Mark Nicoletti.
“We had to buy, I think it’s 15 different properties, to assemble enough land to develop a Main Street,” he said.
In February PSDC gave an update on two pending projects in the township, including one that’s been on the drawing board since 2018: a code update to allow new uses within the current village overlay area, an area of roughly 20 acres surrounding Forty Foot and Sumneytown.
The township’s planning commission began talks on updating the overlay in early 2018, and those talks continued in summer 2019, leading to the board voting in early 2020 to allow different uses in each of several “sectors” currently zoned as village commercial and R-150 residential.
After the February update, PSDC returned to the board this April to say they had acquired more properties around that intersection, and Nicoletti gave another update on Aug. 28, saying they had acquired properties on the south side of Sumneytown in addition to the north side.
"We're down to one last piece: the big building on the corner, we have under contract, and we're going to close in November," he said.
"We're been working with the township's planners, and our engineers, to extend 'Main Street' across, to the other side of the street, where those office buildings are," Nicoletti said.
Cars head past an office building discussed as the centerpiece of a possible "Main Street" development at the corner of Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike in Towamencin on Wednesday, Sept, 4, 2024.Starting in September, the public could see what that looks like.
"We're going to come in with plans for Main Street, that include some new apartments around those office buildings. There were originally apartments planned, and shops planned, on Main Street. This opens up more on the other side of Sumneytown Pike: more restaurants, and stores," he said.
Early talks on that expanded project have included a proposed zoning amendment that could include PSDC territory located within a perimeter bounded by Sumneytown, Forty Foot, Bustard Road, and Reiff Road, with a goal of adding residential units that could provide living space for workers in the office buildings, who could then shop and dine in retail and restaurants there.
Resident Carla Trongone, standing at podium, speaks to a team of developers about a proposed zoning overlay map change meant to allow additional uses on properties near Reiff Road and Sumneytown Pike in Towamencin, during the township supervisors' Jan. 8, 2020 meeting. The dotted area in the overlay map would be limited to a buffer between the overlay area and nearby residential properties, and the area highlighted in green would carry a restrictive covenant allowing it to be used only for parking."The more that we vet out in September and October at meetings, the better. I'd rather not get slowed down in October and November, because I'm addressing a concern at the last minute," the developer said.
One resident asked what type of restaurants the developer envisioned there, whether they would be chains or unique to that site, and Nicoletti cited the Blue Bell Inn as an example.
"I can't get Blue Bell Inn to go to the shopping center, but I might be able to get Blue Bell Inn to go to Main Street. There's 150,000 square feet of office space across the street. If you can get them filled, with people that work there, that supports a restaurant," he said.
A sign with leasing info for developer PSDC stands in front of the Walgreens on Forty Foot Road in Towamencin on Wednesday, Sept, 4, 2024.Prior PSDC projects on that corner included a Marriott hotel, the former Bridgeview Apartments, and a former culinary school, and the developer told the board that while the pandemic and related downtown may have caused business closures, the heavy traffic on the nearby Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike has remained.
"Restaurants want to be at the turnpike: 10 million cars a year (use the turnpike). Office buildings, a hotel, all that activity supports a restaurant," he said.
"We are getting our zoning done, that's the first building block. Then we go to market, and we try to work with developers for the apartments, and the retail on Main Street. It'll come together. I'm determined to get restaurants we want to eat in — I mean, me too," Nicoletti said.
One other resident suggestion, once discussed for the shopping center farther north on Forty Foot, may be less feasible.
"The math on movie theaters is really hard these days. That's why you don't see them: it's just really hard to figure out movie theaters these days," he said.
Another resident asked if the office space would likely be filled before the residential, or vice-versa.
"These are well-thought-out pieces, that complement each other, and help each other. And it's the best way to get those office buildings back, is to surround them with new development," Nicoletti said.
Resident Bruce Bailey added another suggestion for at least some of the office space owned by PSDC: the now-former SKF Inc. office building on Forty Foot near Tomlinson Road, a converted former factory that was the first LEED-platinum certified building in the state when it opened in 2010.
"It needs to become vo-tech for the North Penn school system. It's a working laboratory. I've toured the building a little bit, talked to some of the employees as it was closing down, I'm an engineer, and worked R-and-D, and the building is a gem, to become a tech school, to turn out high-level workers, that America needs, that this area needs," he said.
"Studying that water system, the heat exchange system, taking parameters, doing efficiency studies, day by day, as classroom studies, as they pursue their careers as electricians, plumbers, computer programmers — I'd really like to work with you, and help find a way to turn that into a school system project," Bailey said.
Cars and trucks speed below the pedestrian bridge above Forty Foot Road in Towamencin on Wednesday, Sept, 4, 2024.Supervisor Kofi Osei said he's heard similar Main Street concepts that are "about as old as me," and added another suggestion: any development should include use of the long-desolate pedestrian bridge above Forty Foot Road, which caused controversy when its construction and nearby road improvements put the township into massive debt in the early 2000s.
"I really want to lean into the idea of walking and cycling access. We do have that big bridge. It caused a lot of angst, but it is a very nice piece of infrastructure. And it does abut this Main Street," he said.
One other recent vote could give Towamencin lessons.
"Lansdale just approved their new Main Street overlay, and part of the idea of getting more smaller businesses is relaxing some of the requirements around building size, and configuration. I think as we're working through this zoning, that's something we as a board should consider," Osei said.
Towamencin’s supervisors meet at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
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