Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Montco planners host Village tour tonight
UPPER MERION » A Realen Properties vision for more than a decade, gradually unfolding before our eyes, the Village at Valley Forge will be showcased on a tour hosted by the Montgomery County Planning Commission on June 22, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The tour, spotlighting the strikingly diverse, award-winning, urban-inspired “boom town” at 1 Village Drive in King of Prussia, which is open to the public, is part of the county’s educational outreach Planning Smarter Montco 2017, noted Jody Holton, executive director of Montgomery County Planning Commission.
“We have a series of events as the planning commission where we provide the opportunity for municipal officials, planners and citizens to learn about planning and design concepts, and The Village at Valley Forge is a good example of a new development that offers residential, shops, dining, all in a connective, walkable community,” Holton noted. “It’s located right at I-76 and is at the transportation hub of the region in King of Prussia. It’s significant development in the county, and as much as other communities are experiencing growth and have proposals for new residential and retail, this provides a good model for walkability and design for a number of uses.”
The tour, with its focus on the residential aspects of the Village at Valley Forge, will begin with a presentation at the Indigo 301 apartments, located at 301 Village Drive, and proceed along Main Street.
Speakers will include Dennis Maloomian, president of Realen Properties, developer of the site; Eric Goldstein, executive director of the King of Prussia District (KOP-BID); and Rob Loeper, Upper Merion Township planner.
“The tour will commence at Indigo, which is a 363-apartment home community and the first residential building to be completed at The Village at Valley Forge,” noted Maloomian. “In addition, residents are now living at Hanover Valley Forge — 339 apartment homes and the first phase of The Brownstones, a community of 132 stacked town homes.”
Soon to be completed, Maloomian added, is Canvas, a 240-unit active adult (55 and over) development and AVE, a 276-unit flexible stay community of furnished and unfurnished apartments.
“Soon to come are condominiums, senior living and corporate and medical offices,” he said. “All in addition to the existing Wegmans, the King of Prussia Town Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.”
King of Prussia Town Center embraces 20 acres within the 132-acre Village at Valley Forge master plan, which has been unfolding gradually since 2006 when proposals to develop the former Valley Forge Golf Course began surfacing.
Realen’s panoptic concept had steadfastly prevailed over numerous construction setbacks by the time Wegmans made its sparkling debut in the spring of 2012.
Four years later, the first post Wegmans businesses to open in the center were the upscale Brazilian churrascaria steak house Fogo de Chao and Ulta Beauty last July, followed by L.A. Fitness the following month. Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse, b. good, REI, City Works Restaurant & Pour House, Hair Cuttery, Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar and Road Runner Sports soon followed.
Ironically, the Town Center concept echoes entrepreneur Arthur L. Powell’s early 1960s architectural vision of an openair shopping plaza that trailblazed the arrival of The Plaza, now incorporated into the fully enclosed King of Prussia Mall across North Gulph Road.
“The King of Prussia Town Center really responds to today’s consumer’s desire to have that all-encompassing experience and get more of that downtown feel of discovering different restaurants and shops outdoors, and being outside and socializing in an integrated kind of experience,” spokeswoman Allie Seifert had noted in an ear---
lier interview. “There really isn’t anything in the area like this. There are other town centers that are kind of cookie cutter, but this is so robust and unique.”
Since its debut the sprawling venture has garnered one set of kudos after another, Maloomian pointed out.
“The Village at Valley Forge has generated a great deal of interest and has been the recipient of numerous accolades. It was recently named the project of the year by the Philadelphia Business Journal,” he said.
When asked to think back to that long winter of 2009, when the dream’s survival hinged on a lone bulldozer sitting idly on the frozen landscape, Maloomian noted, “It’s a project that has been a long time in the making. But it is enormously gratifying to see it all come together as well as it has. Take a walk down Main Street and look around …. it’s working.”