Changing ‘the face of the borough’
Apartment buildings, retail space to be built atop parking lot
After years of discussion, months of revisions, and hours of comments Wednesday night, Lansdale officials have cast a vote that could reshape downtown.
Borough council has approved plans by developer Equus Capital Partners to build 181 apartment units, retail space and a public plaza atop the current Madison Parking Lot.
“It’s a huge change. It is a massive change for the borough. It will change the face of the borough,” council President Denton Burnell said.
Wednesday night’s 6-3 council vote was the culmination of years of discussion, debate and deliberation by borough council, its planning commission, and Equus, which first proposed the project in 2011 and has undergone numerous changes and revisions since.
Equus Vice Presidents John Knott and George Haines, engineer Jason Korczak of Bohler Engineering and architect David Schmauk showed council the final version Wednesday night, which incorporated feedback from months of meetings as recent as Monday night.
“We’ve been here for a number of years, really working hard on this project. We think it’s going to be a great, transformative project for Lansdale. We’re very excited about the project,” Knott said.
In response to resident concerns about parking, Korczak described how the project will create 35 public parking spaces on the southeast side of the current public parking lot, and a com-
plex of six apartment and retail buildings will be surrounded by 221 private parking spaces for residents of the 181 apartment units — estimated to be roughly 98 one-bedroom or studio units and the remainder, two-bedroom units.
“When you factor in the additional public spaces, the 35 spaces, you come to a total of 256 parking spaces on this site. That results in a ratio of 1.41 spaces per residential unit,” Korczak said.
When the project is 50 percent occupied, an updated parking study would be performed to determine if more parking is needed ,and a reserve lot of roughly 20 additional spaces could be built near the water tower and electric transformer at Third and Richardson streets. Combined with a pedestrian bridge that runs over the nearby rail tracks and connects to a newly opened 680-space SEPTA parking garage, the Equus team argued the complex will have more than enough parking for the transit-oriented residents they hope to attract.
“Not everyone’s going to be driving. Not everyone is going to take the train, but it’s very convenient for anyone who lives there to be able to walk across the bridge, and get onto a SEPTA train, and be able to go where they need to go for work,” Korczak said.
Knott said Equus expects a roughly $35 million price to build the entire complex, in addition to a $1.88 million purchase agreement with the borough parking authority, and units would likely rent for around $1,200 per month. Part of that contribution would go to infrastructure upgrades including a new electric transformer on the northwest corner of the site, and part of which would fund a borough project to widen Madison Street and add more parking there, and the developer said they hope to start construction in late summer or fall.
“We perceive the plaza and the promenade as a very active space. We think having a restaurant in that one building will help foster that activity. We are not looking to detract from any of the current Lansdale businesses,” Knott said.
During a conditional use hearing on the proposed project, residents questioned several aspects of the project and said they still had concerns over the potential parking and traffic impacts.
“I don’t think you have enough parking. If somebody wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner, and twelve people are coming, where are they all going to park? I’m single, and I have two cars, and I know four other women who are single and have two cars,” said resident Jean Fritz.
Korczak said the second parking study when the project is half occupied would determine if more parking is needed, and Knott said other similar Equus projects have typically had more than
enough parking for the residents who do occupy them.
Resident Bob Willi said he thought the nearby Second and Third Street residents whose homes abut the current parking lot would suffer most from increased traffic — “to me, this is overkill. This is really going to overwhelm our roads.”
John Black of Second Street agreed, and said delivery trucks for the businesses and for various residential services could make traffic even worse, on top of noise from nearby freight trains on the rail line.
“In my opinion, Lansdale already has plenty of apartments. I would support a revision, that excludes residential use, and focuses on retail only,” he said.
Rose Chapman of Mt. Vernon Street said she was worried that five of the six buildings would feature three stories of apartments, but with no elevators, and Chris Flyzik said she preferred a 2011 version of the plan, with two larger commercial buildings
and more open space.
“The Madison Lot has represented lost promise for years, ever since the Montgomery Mall decimated this area decades ago,” she said.
“But even in disrepair, the lot always represented promise, and hope of what Lansdale could be. I’ll tell you what: 181 apartments leaves no room for promise. 181 apartments leaves us with 181 apartments. That’s it,” she said.
Kevin Dunigan, vice chairman of the planning commission that gave its own approval to the project Monday, said he thought council should keep in mind the bigger picture: the Madison Lot project was part of an overall borough initiative to attract both residents and visitors.
“Our Main Street is full of unique little spaces. A Trader Joe’s, a brew pub, an Iron Hill Brewery, all require a much larger space, and that’s what we’re getting,” he said.
“When all of those people come here, and create feet on the street, that’s necessary for revitalization in any community. We will end up with a rising tide, and all boats get lifted on a rising tide,” Dunigan said.
Council voted 7-1 to grant the conditional use approval for the project, with Councilman Jack Hansen the only vote against, and voted 6-3 in favor of the final approval, with Hansen and councilmen Leon Angelichio and Rich Di Gregorio (who arrived between votes) also voting against.
Hansen said he also would have supported earlier versions of the project, which included a parking garage and skate park on site and upgrades to nearby Railroad Plaza, but was upset with the series of changes over the years.
“We are going to get new residents. It will beautify the parking lot, there’s no doubt about that. But with the other things that we’re missing, there’s no way I can support it,” he said.
Angelichio said hie was moved by widespread comments on social media against the project.
“If the public feels that this is not the right project, who are we to tell the public that they’re wrong?”
Burnell said the original plans were scaled down and revised largely because of public feedback against what were originally much larger buildings, and said the lengthy public process was a sign that council, and the developer, listened to and incorporated feedback.
“We started with a project that was not a promise. That was a design, that was ‘This is what we think we want to do.’” Burnell said.
“Through the process of development, that project evolved, and it became a real design. It became something that was, in theory, feasible to build, and that’s what this is all about: what is feasible to build on that space?” he said.
Comments on social media have implied that council have received some sort of financial benefit for approving the project, and Burnell addressed that accusation head-on.
“One of the big comments that we find on there often is ‘Follow the money.’ My answer would be, please follow the money, because it doesn’t lead to my house. I’m so tired of hearing that,” he said.
“We are public servants up here. We’re up here doing this because we believe it’s the right thing to do for this town. That’s it. Or we don’t — however we vote,” he said.
Resident have suggested the current parking lot be upgraded or modernized to fit more parking, but Burnell said doing that would pass up the opportunity to turn a parcel of asphalt and meters into a new destination, and new community.
“That empty parking lot has done nothing to revitalize this borough. Building another big fancy parking garage on top of it isn’t going to do anything to revitalize this town,” he said.
“We need people, we need places for them to go, and this is what’s going to do it.”