Photo showing an upgraded façade of West Main Consignment at 15 W. Main Street in Lansdale after a façade improvement grant funded by the town, as presented to borough council on Dec. 17, 2025. (Image courtesy of Lansdale Borough)
Borough budget includes increased funding for economic development in 2026
If you’ve noticed a new look at one or more of your favorite spots in Lansdale, a long-running borough program may be to thank.
And the town’s economic development committee has big plans for 2026, committee Chairman Andrew Carroll told Borough Council at its final meeting of 2025.
“The time has come to invest, and put our money where our mouth is,” Carroll said.
For the past decade-plus, the town’s economic development committee has been tasked with finding ways to spur development, fill storefront vacancies, and pursue tactics that could keep or attract new business.
That group’s efforts have yielded programs including the town’s economic development incentive, which provides a discount on electric bills for businesses that create or keep jobs in town, and from 2022-24 the committee hired an outside consultant to meet with local business owners and landlords, find solutions for vacant properties, and promote development; in 2025 that consultant was dropped in favor of pursuing a full time ‘Main Street manager’ position, a post that will be funded in the town’s 2026 budget.
During the Dec. 17 council meeting, Carroll outlined another economic development initiative overseen by the committee, and possibly the most visible: façade improvement grants using a program begun in 2018, whereby the committee authorizes borough funds be used as matching grants toward exterior upgrades for several local businesses.
Those recipients in 2025 included West Main Consignment at 15 W. Main Street, a downtown fixture that’s been located in the borough since 1985 and won the committee’s business of the month award in 2015.
“A new owner came in and loved the business, saw the value in the business, saw the value in the town…didn’t quite see the value in this storefront,” Carroll said, showing the previous stucco façade and stylized lettering on the storefront, then the new teal paneling with a larger logo and covered awning.
“So they applied for a façade grant, came in with a beautiful design, very complex sign that they could’ve cheaped out and spent less, but changed the whole façade and started to lift up that section of Main Street. And this is what started getting the ball rolling in that area,” Carroll said.
About a block west, another makeover: the former Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad offices at 301 West Main are now occupied by Insurance Now, a company that had been located at the Hillcrest Shopping Center and is now located next to the Comic Zen shop at Main and Susquehanna Avenue.
“And Comic Zen is still eligible, because they’re a separate business, even though it’s the same property,” Carroll said.
Another façade grant went to a familiar address just off of Main Street. The former Reporter building at 307 Derstine Avenue, most recently occupied by Shane and Pepper Candle Company, now sports the checkered-flag logo of racecar simulator SKR Sim Racing, which Carroll called “the most intense 30 minutes of driving you’ll ever do in your life — and you’re not even in a car.”
“This is another example of where they could’ve just put up a basic box sign, but the reason they were able to go further was because of the borough’s participation in the project,” Carroll said.
Another façade grant went farther off of Main: Four Square Realty at 415 N. Broad “wasn’t necessarily beautification, but practicality,” where a freestanding sign in front of a sidewalk leading to stairs, is now accompanied by a fully accessible ramp and patio upgrades meant to allow those with mobility needs to enter.
“The person with a disability is now able to get all the way into the building. So, not just our typical, helping a new business get a sign, but this was something that served more of a practical measure. Happy to be part of it,” Carroll said.
And another well-known address also leveled up in 2025: Well Crafted Brewing, located at 310 Madison Street in what had once been instructional rooms for the town’s long-debated performing arts center, and since 2018 has been a downtown destination.
“They always were the brewery in the basement. And after five-and-a-half years of working there, very proudly, I was very sick of hearing people say ‘Where is this place? It must be in some kind of basement,'” Carroll said.
One façade grant later, Well Crafted has replaced its hop-shaped logo next to their rear entrance with a larger illuminated sign above the same entry, designed to be visible from the town’s nearby SEPTA station as thirsty rail riders arrive in town.
“That signage above it is so people walking down the sidewalk can actually see where Well Crafted is. They also included a menu box out front, where they also include their upcoming events, and I think that one was done very well,” he said.
The largest proposal before that committee is still in progress, but no less visible: the Elm Terrace Gardens complex on Broad Street at Seventh Streets is “looking to revamp,” and “far, far exceeded the match — this is a million-dollar-plus project” that has been proposed, which could reconfigure their Broad Street entrance to add a one-story-tall Elm Terrace logo on the second floor of their building.
“That will be coming up for the EDC in calendar year 2026, and we look forward to approving them for a $5,000 match on a $1.2 million project,” he said.
One other façade grant application has also been proposed, with no final decision yet: McQuillin Studio at Main and Broad has proposed an upgrade including repainting of their exteriors and new signage, and “We’d be very happy to hear their request when the time comes,” Carroll said.
Council President Mary Fuller said she was encouraged to see more activity from the committee, and said she thought “the facades really do make a difference.” Carroll replied that he’d keep council and the public informed in 2026 on what comes from the newly approved funds.
“We have a lovely town, full of wonderful residents, and we can’t stop there. We need to continue to grow, and build this into a place that’s a very happy and healthy town to be in, and I look forward to your support,” he said
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Jan. 5 and 21, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information, visit www.Lansdale.org.
Editor's note: NorthPennNow.com Managing Editor Tony Di Domizio is an appointed member of the Lansdale Economic Development Committee.
This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com
