Sewer snafu delays Upland Square Lidl
WEST POTTSGROVE >> It’s been four years since it was announced that a new Lidl supermarket was planned for a parcel opposite the Upland Square shopping center.
But still, no construction has begun despite Lidls being built in other locations along the East Coast.
The delay, according to township officials, has nothing to do with them. Rather, it has to do with where the sewage will go.
Township Manager Craig Lloyd said the sewage from Upland Square does not cross Route 100 at Upland Square Drive to head to the Pottstown Wastewater Treament Plant.
Instead, it heads out the back of the shopping center, downhill, using gravity to enter the Pottstown sewage system on Manatawny Street.
With no sewer line at Upland Square Drive, a 22-acre development proposed by the Gambone Development Group on the north side of Upland Square Road has a problem.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection wants the Gambone project to connect to the existing sewer system through Upland Square.
Craig said the DEP is also asking that the owners of Upland Square form its own
sewer authority since it will be transferring sewage from a property not its own into the Pottstown system.
Evidently, that is not something the Upland Square owners are anxious to do, said Commissioners’ Chairman Steve Miller.
Currently, two new stores are being constructed in Upland Square, a Ross and a Burlington Coat Factory.
In addition to the 4-acre parcel on which the Lidl would be located, the Gambone project has also at various times proposed several restaurants and even a hotel.
Miller said “they would never tell us exactly who was interested in the site,” but added he believed Lidl has signed a contract for the space.
“They were all hot and heavy to come and get started,” Miller said. “And we said fine with us.”
Lidl, a European supermarket chain that is a rival to Aldi, which is also European, has managed to open numerous stores elsewhere.
“Lidl first established its U.S. headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in June 2015, and today sells its award-winning products in more than 65 stores across nine east coast states,” according to a May 17 press release announcing plans for even more stores.
“Lidl US announced today plans to open 25 new stores in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia by spring of 2020,” according to the press release.
The West Pottsgrove site is not on that list.
What is on a list of stores scheduled to open “in the next year” is one on East Ridge Pike in Trooper; and another on West Ridge Pike in “Royersford,” which is in all likelihood actually located in Limerick or Upper Providence given that Ridge Pike does not pass through the Borough of Royersford.
Attempts Friday to contact Paramount Realty Services, which manages the Upland Square, were not successful.
Nor were attempts to reach a spokesperson for Lidl or the Gambone Development Group.
The company operates about 10,000 stores in Europe, and is privately owned by the Schwarz Group, a German family-owned retail group that also includes the Kaufland supermarket chain. According to trade publication Supermarket News, the Schwarz Group is the seventh largest food retailer in the world, according to a 2015 article in The Reading Eagle.
Lidl is a direct rival of Aldi, who announced their own major expansion in 2015, a five-year plan to open 650 new stores. Aldi operates about 1,400 stores in the U.S., including a store in Lower Pottsgrove Township adjacent to the Home Depot off Armand Hammer Boulevard, the Eagle reported.
“They were all hot and heavy to come and get started. And we said fine with us.”
— Steve Miller, West Pottsgrove Commissioners Chairman