Developer presents ‘Luxor Lansdale’
Apartment building project planned near Broad Street
A new plan is in the works for a high-end apartment building on an industrial property along Broad Street.
John Tallman, Vice President of Acquisition and Approvals for Westrum Development Company, unveiled plans for “Luxor Lansdale,” which he said is meant to draw millennials looking to live in a walkable downtown.
“Lansdale, we think, is a great place to live, to work, and to shop. There’s easy access to transportation, we love the walkable lifestyle: that’s something that’s re-
ally ideal for our proposed tenants,” he said.
Plans are still being finalized, but Tallman showed the planning commission on Sept. 17 an outline featuring a five-story apartment building of somewhere around 180 units, located on a roughly four-acre parcel east of Broad and south of the borough freight station and railroad tracks.
“It will be 173, 189 or 205 (units) — we’re still working on the details at this point. And as currently reflected, we show just over 150 cars parking on the surface lots, and we project 150 cars underneath the structure itself,” Tallman said.
The main access and entrance to the building would be from an access road running south past the borough freight station at Broad and Vine Streets, with surface lots just north of the apartment building itself and a secondary entrance at the southern end of the property, near Blaine Street.
The apartment building would feature a communal pool, lobby bar, courtyard and lounge, with a fitness center, yoga studio and dog park for residents. Units would feature Westrum’s “Luxor” styling, and range from 575-square-foot apartments, with a monthly rent range of $1,360 to $1,400 to one-bedroom units of 600 to 950 square feet for
$1,585 to $1,700 monthly, and roughly 10 percent of the units would be twobedrooms, of 990 to 1,035 square feet, with rents of $1,950 to $2,100 monthly, Tallman said.
“What we try and do is provide an urban lifestyle experience in a suburban location. You’re in close proximity to transportation — here, we’re just 1,500 feet from the train,” he said.
“It’s an affordable, nohassle lifestyle. You don’t have to take care of your lawn, or anything like that. Millennials enjoy frequent travel, they like the hotel-like amenities, and no long-term financial commitment,” Tallman said.
Demographics of similar projects by Westrum have shown that the impact on the local school district tends to be minimal, since those living in the apartments tend to be single or unmarried, and move into larger homes when they start families. A similar project in Norristown produced only five new children out of 100 apartment units for that district, Tallman said, and each of those were children of split families
who visited parents, but did not live, in the apartments.
Based on current tax rates the property currently generates roughly $28,000 in annual tax revenue to Lansdale, the North Penn School District and Montgomery County combined. Developing the apartment building, which Tallman said would cost roughly $35 to $40 million, could bring that figure up to roughly $336,000 annually, with the borough share increasing more than tenfold from roughly $4,400 to $53,000.
“We think this is going to be a place that people are going to want to live in the borough, especially if you’re a millennial,” Tallman said.
“It’s a known conclusion to an underutilized property. In this case, it’s an interesting industrial property: we don’t know what would happen to it, but we’re showing you what we think we could do here, if you’re interested,” he said.
Mike Narcowich, the borough’s liaison to the Montgomery County Planning Commission, asked for specifics on the entrances and connections to Broad, and
Tallman said those are still being finalized.
“We just want to get a feel for how the town feels about this. We’re just starting our work here,” Tallman said.
Commission member Nate Burns asked about the building height, and Tallman said early versions show surface parking on separate lots and below the building, with four additional floors of apartments above. Commission member John Darab asked about emergency vehicle access, which Tallman said would be handled by an access road running around the building.
“If anything’s going to give you fits, it’s to get a fire engine or ladder truck in there, or around the building. Don’t forget about that,” Darab said.
“I don’t disagree, and we have attempted to start to solve that with this accessway,” Tallman said.
Parts of the property fall within the borough’s industrial zone and others within commercial, so some zoning relief will likely be needed from council, Tallman told the commission. Depending
on that zoning, relief from parking requirements could also be needed, and Borough Manager John Ernst said he would research the parking requirements for the parcel as currently zoned.
Commission member Kevin Dunigan suggested the developer start talks with the parking authority on a shared use agreement to secure access from the north side. Tallman replied that he’d do so through Joe Clement, the parking authority’s solicitor who is already working on the Westrum project.
“There’s also a building at the entrance to that parking lot that could use a little help in terms of it’s revitalization. Just saying,” Ernst said, hinting at the freight station and plans for its redevelopment.
Carole Farrell, of Blaine Street at the south end of the project, said she was concerned about drainage to remove stormwater that flows through that property. Tallman said what appears to be a creek there now is actually a drainage ditch built in the 1970s, “and we are going to have to deal with that.”
“We’re not exactly sure how yet, but I will tell you, currently, it runs through the middle of the building,” he said.
Farrell also asked whether trees currently on the site would stay, and Tallman said details aren’t final, but trees will likely either stay or be added to provide more privacy for the swimming pool on that side of the property.
“We’ll give you a pool membership,” Tallman said.
“I just want my trees,” Farrell replied.
Lansdale’s planning commission next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 and borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 19, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St.
“We think this is going to be a place that people are going to want to live in the borough, especially if you’re a millennial.” — John Tallman, vice president of acquisition and approvals for Westrum Development Company