There are a handful of major developments that are in various stages within the Borough of Conshohocken’s approval process. Below we give an overview of what is proposed and where it currently stands:
Apartments at West Elm at Corson
Corson Street Acquisition Limited Partnership-John Forde is proposing to build a 352 unit apartment community at West Elm and Corson Streets. The developers are seeking approval for two conditional uses, which there is a hearing on Wednesday, May 1st (tonight). You can find all of the details by clicking here.
Apartments at North Lane and Hector Street
These apartments actually fall in Whitemarsah, are under construction and will have 382 units. Expect an opening in early 2014 under the name The Courts at Spring Mill Station.
Apartments on Washington Street – 1
O’Neill Properties is proposing building 476 “corporate suites” behind the Millennium office buildings and next to Londonbury along the river. The plan also has a restaurant and some office space. If you are wondering what a “corporate suite” is, it is housing targeting the corporate traveler that stays in town for an extended period.
The project is in the sketch plan stage, meaning they showed their idea to the Borough and basically asked for some input. The plan could change in small or drastic ways. As of right now, it is not on the agenda for any upcoming meetings.
Apartments on Washington Street – 2
On the Conshy/Whitemarsh border, O’Neill Properties is considering building 600+ apartments. They had asked to present a sketch plan for this project, but pulled it. So there is currently no status for this project other than O’Neill owns the property and will one day look to develop it.
7 Tower Bridge
Pulver, who built the Marriott and many of the office buildings along the river, already has approval for 7 Tower Bridge, which is to be built along the river near the bridge. The building will be fourteen-stories with 260,000 square feet. Since this project is already approved, it could be built at any time. You can learn more about 7 Tower Bridge by clicking here.
Hale Pump (Spring Mill Avenue)
A local developer proposed building a mix of singles, duplexes and townhomes at the site of Hale Pump. The developer sought relief on the size of the side yard and was denied in zoning. Right now this project is in the appeal process. You can see what is currently proposed by clicking here.
Lower West 7th Avenue
Parkview at West 7th is a proposed townhome development from Philomeno & Salamone Builders overlooking Sutcliffe Park. This project was initially supposed to get started a couple years ago and the property is currently listed as part of a sheriff sale.
West Elm/West 1st and Fayette
We reported on this hotel, office tower and parking deck project at the end of March. I do not have the actual numbers of hotel rooms or square footage for office space, but as you can see in the above photo, this is not a small project. It is not currently on any published meeting agendas.
Moore Chevrolet Property
As of right now the property is in a holding pattern waiting to see if the developers and Wawa decide to pursue this project through the courts or the Zoning Board. Whatever it eventually becomes will be a large project just based on the size of the property.
The Verizon Building
The Borough owns it, it is full of mold and is sitting empty. Part of the West Elm/West 1st and Fayette project includes trading the Verizon Building for land needed the developer needs next to the Washington Fire Company. If that deal pans out it would be redeveloped as a new home for the Borough’s staff and the police, plus there would be some additional tenants.
So what does all of that add up to? It is a combined:
1,800+ apartments = 2,700 residents (1,800 x 1.5)
7 Tower Bridge = 1,000 workers/visitors on weekdays (based on 800 parking spaces)
West 7th and Spring Mill new homes = 120 residents (80 x 1.5)
This total is 3,820 people traveling around and in and out of the 19428 zip code each day. We didn’t include in this number the hotel and the expanded office tower at West Elm and West 1st, the Moore Chevrolet Property or the Verizon Building. I think we can safely say that minimally all of that would expand the 3,820 people to 5,000+.
During the Wawa hearings there was a lot of discussion about traffic studies. The problem with traffic studies is that they only take into account the property in discussion and not what is planned right down the street. The borough has commissioned a comprehensive traffic study that will take all of the proposed and planned development into consideration. So now when a single project presents its study, the members of Borough Council have something to reference and make comparisons against.
We plan to cover all of these projects as they move forward through the approval process or break ground if they are already approved. Stay tuned.