Madison conversion plans move ahead

Reserve parking to be discussed by council

LANSDALE >> Details are coming into focus for a planned conversion of retail space to residential in the apartments atop the former Madison Parking Lot.

Councilman Rich DiGregorio gave an update on that project last week, and said council could see details, and make a decision, later this month.

“There was a request to convert a portion of the first floor commercial space, in building E, to four residential apartments,” DiGregorio said.

Building E is one of several located on Madison Street just north of Main Street, where the project that became the Madison Lansdale Station apartments was discussed starting in 2011. After years of talks and changes to various versions of the project, construction began in November 2017 and as the buildings have been finished, opened, and filled with tenants starting in 2019 into early 2020, changes have been made nearby including new public parking spaces on adjacent Madison Street and approvals for signs to advertise the complex.

In April DiGregorio told council that the owner of the complex was planning a conversion and would present details to council soon, and on May 5 they did so to the code committee which he chairs.

“They were telling us that, with the pandemic and the economy, it’s not profitable for them to have any retail stores” in that first-floor space, DiGregorio told council.

Councilman Leon Angelichio said he thought council had “a pretty stringent requirement” that the first floor space be used as commercial, and council President Denton Burnell asked if the change and new residences would trigger a requirement for added parking toward the rear of the property.

“Yes, there is — back in that corner of the property, they’re opening up more parking, that’s going to be for them,” DiGregorio said, referring to the parking being private and for tenants of the apartments and not public for nearby residents.

“That was brought up, and yes, the retail is supposed to be staying the same; for example, across from Well Crafted, and Stove and Tap, that area,” DiGregorio said, naming two businesses that front on Madison Street

Borough Manager of Community Development Jason Van Dame added that the proposal would include conversion of space in only one building into four residential units, and the building faces a small dog park within the complex.

Mayor Garry Herbert asked if council or residents could ask questions about parking related to the project during the hearing, and Van Dame said they could.

“When they come in, it will be a hearing for the amendment to the conditional use (approval), so all questions are on the table. But the parking, the reserve parking they’re developing, was part of the original land development plan,” Van Dame said.

Approvals granted by council at that time specified that the developer would have to do a formal parking study once the buildings reached a certain occupancy level, and that occupancy level could also have triggered the reserve parking requirement, Van Dame told council.

“They would have had to do (the reserve parking) then, but they opted to bring that as something they’re going to do as they ask for permission to change this space,” he said.

Borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on May 19; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.

“There was a request to convert a portion of the first floor commercial space, in building E, to four residential apartments.” — councilman Rich DiGregorio

DAN SOKIL — MEDIANEWS GROUP A three-story apartment building that is part of the “Madison Lansdale Station” complex can be seen behind the porch of a home on the corner of Third and Richardson Streets, with the borough’s water tower above, as seen in April.