New 9-unit neighborhood breaks ground near Stony Creek Park and rail crossing

A vacant parcel in Lansdale Borough is getting a fresh start, as officials and developers gathered Friday morning to break ground on Aspen Court Townhomes, a nine-unit residential project located just steps from Stony Creek Park and the SEPTA Lansdale-Doylestown rail line.

Hosted by Opus Elite Real Estate and Meridian Bank Mortgage, the ceremony took place at 380 East Hancock Street, the site of a former multi-unit boarding house that was heavily damaged by fire three years ago.

Now cleared and repurposed, the roughly 33,500-square-foot lot will be transformed into a modern townhome community — marking another step in the gradual shift of the neighborhood from industrial to residential use.

Lansdale Mayor Garry Herbert joined developers, engineers, and community members at the groundbreaking to celebrate the project’s launch and the continued revitalization of underutilized properties near downtown.

A site shaped by change

The new neighborhood sits just west of the East Hancock Street railroad crossing, near the back entrance of Stony Creek Park and adjacent to several aging industrial parcels.

“It’s in an industrial zoning district — you can see it’s a smaller property, industrial-type uses don’t really fit,” said Jason Smeland, project engineer, at a prior borough council meeting in November 2024. “Thirty years ago, this was a great place for industrial, but the area’s kind of changed around it.”

Smeland explained that designing safe and functional access was one of the project’s greatest hurdles, given the site's proximity to the SEPTA tracks and vehicle traffic on Hancock Street.

“Probably the biggest issue with this project was the access,” Smeland said. “There was really only one place you could have the entrance… We looked at doing some sort of loop configuration, but that would bring your driveway too close to the railroad and be unsafe, so we pushed it all the way over to the west side of the property, and added width to allow multiple vehicles to pass.”

Modern homes in a walkable setting

Each of the nine townhomes will include three floors, approximately 2,000 to 2,200 square feet of living space, and between two-and-a-half to three bathrooms, offering a design similar to Andale Green, the housing development across the street where industrial and commercial properties once stood. The location offers walkability to regional rail, green space, and downtown amenities.

While much of the tree cover on-site will be preserved or replanted, five trees will be removed. The developer will pay a fee in lieu of planting replacements elsewhere, in accordance with borough ordinances.

Construction is expected to begin in the coming weeks.