As we mentioned a couple days ago, the effort to rezone the western unit block of Fayette Street between West Elm Street and West First Avenue was to be discussed at the Wednesday night Borough Council meeting in Conshohocken. The rezoning is being requested by Keystone Property Group, which hopes to build a 200′ hotel, replace two office buildings with larger ones, create a public square, parking and retail spaces in that area.
What hasn’t been revealed, and may not have been determined yet, is how far deep towards Maple Street the rezoning will occur. At the meeting, members of Borough Council and staff spoke as if this had not been flushed out yet and stated that maps had not yet been created, however, one member of Borough Council told us several weeks ago that he had seen a map that included the recently closed Saint Mary Parish.
The most interesting thing to come out of the meeting was when Oliver Tyrone Pulver, the developer owns Two Tower Bridge and the parking deck directly across the street from the proposed Keystone development, asked that his property be included in the rezoning.
As we mentioned, Keystone needs the rezoning to build three, 200′ buildings (a hotel and two office towers). The current zoning only allows 40′ high buildings. The two office towers would replace smaller existing office buildings. Pulver’s Two Tower Bridge is of similar size to the properties Keystone wants to replace, so Pulver has to view this as an opportunity to redevelop his property as well.
If Pulver’s property is included, you could see 200′ high buildings between Elm Street and First Avenue from Harry Street, across the unit block of Fayette, and all the way to Maple Street.
Based on the discussion that took place, Borough Council knew that Pulver’s request was coming. According to what the Borough’s solicitor said, Pulver’s attorney had already contacted him. For now, it looks like this issue will go back behind closed doors until just after the New Year. The issue of rezoning would go before the Planning Commission first and that could happen as early as January. Actual approval or rejection wouldn’t happen to early spring.
The map at the top of this story details three possible rezoning maps. The red marks the area that was initially proposed by Keystone for the redevelopment project. The green marks if they add Saint Mary Parish and include the entire area that falls between Fayette, West First Avenue, Maple Street and West Elm. The blue shows if grant Pulver’s request and rezone the green area, plus his property across Fayette Street.
Keep you posted.