PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-WILMINGTON-ATLANTIC CITY-READING | Metro Development Thread

[AnEmperorPenguin]

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

We don't need to make the same mistakes other places are making. It's a complex issue and yes can be hard to control but we could at least try.

This is really an insane take, what do you mean "control" them from moving in? Instead of making the housing crisis worse through the NIMBYism this inevitably leads to, the city could just as well let developers build the housing these people want to buy and use the tax money for rent subsidies and programs like "Turn the Key".

[summersm343]

West Chester Borough Council supports effort to restore SEPTA passenger rail service

West Chester Borough Council is unanimously throwing its support behind a proposal to restore the area’s passenger rail line connecting the borough to Philadelphia.

Commuter trains have not operated in Chester County’s most populous municipality since SEPTA shuttered the service in 1986. A community-driven revival has been in the works for years.

A recent vote by borough council cemented a resolution that allows the Railroad Restoration Committee to seek funding to reestablish service from Wawa, Delaware County, to West Chester. They call the plan the Metro Concept.

“It’s a less costly and more achievable approach to returning rail service using battery-operated cars, and what we’d like to do is lease the cars for two years as a pilot project to show that we can attract riders,” said Jo Ann Kelton, chairperson of the Railroad Restoration Committee.

PennDOT published a feasibility study in 2018 that showed it was possible ridership would return if passenger service made a comeback. However, the price tag for revamping the line and buying modern passenger cars came in at an estimated $380 million. West Chester and SEPTA saw the cost as a rather large and expensive obstacle.

“Since that time, my committee and all the members, of course, have been working on plans to try to develop an alternate method of restoring service until SEPTA would be ready to take it over,” Kelton said.

She pointed to the upcoming revival of the defunct commuter rail station in Wawa as a sign of progress. Once SEPTA officially reconnects its Elwyn stop to Wawa, Kelton believes that the Metro Concept will have an opportunity to build on it and put West Chester back “on the map.”

The plan is to reopen four stations: two in West Chester, one in Westtown Township, and one near Cheyney University. The idea is that passengers from West Chester would transfer over from the battery-operated cars once at the Wawa station to regular SEPTA cars.

According to the committee, this endeavor would cost $16.4 million — just 4% of PennDOT’s original estimation. This is largely because the plan does not call for the lines to be completely refitted to operate with the modern SEPTA cars.

“We think it’s feasible, and we think we can do it. We think it’s a very attractive alternative. And right now, we’re looking for funding sources, both state, local, and federal,” Kelton said.

“I feel like we’ve made leaps and bounds in terms of trying to get some momentum going. And although we’re not there [yet] and we have a long way to go on whether we could actually accomplish this, it just feels like we’re moving in the right direction,” Stefano said.

While the committee’s work has largely run smoothly, there is one small wrinkle in their plans. A portion of the line is currently used by the West Chester Railroad, which is a tourist train that has been in operation since 1997.

The borough leases those tracks from SEPTA and the all-volunteer nonprofit West Chester Railroad Heritage Association operates the train.

“We run mostly on Sundays from Easter through September. And then October, November, December, we run on Saturdays as well. We’ll run anywhere from one to five trains on a particular given day,” said Tyler Haney, the president of the West Chester Railroad Heritage Association.

“West Chester Railroad’s position has always been that we’re leasing the railroad at the pleasure of SEPTA and if SEPTA ever decides they want to bring regional rail service back, we will give up the tracks of them and let them take over and we would have to move on somewhere,” Haney said.

Haney thinks it’s possible to run regional rail service and the tourist train on the same tracks as long as there is a plan for how it’s going to be operated and who’s going to be responsible for maintenance — and as long as it doesn’t impact their operations.

West Chester Railroad did discuss with the borough council to have an amendment put into the resolution that the commuter rail should not impact its weekend operations. Because the trains are set to operate at different times, Kelton doesn’t believe that there will be any overlap in services or tours.

Read more here:
https://whyy.org/articles/west-chester-borough-council-septa-passenger-rail-service/

[PHLtoNYC]

Exelixis Inc. in negotiations for new King of Prussia office-lab complex amid 'ambitious expansion plans'

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...cx_testVariant=cx_8&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

Exelixis Inc., an Alameda, California, biotechnology company, is in negotiations with Brandywine Realty Trust to have the real estate company develop a new 200,000- to 250,000-square-foot building in King of Prussia.

The complex would be constructed at 650 and 651 Park Ave. Half of the space would be offices while the other half would be labs.

Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) anticipates more than 600 employees to eventually work from the Park Avenue complex. The biotech company said that an agreement with Brandywine had yet to be reached on the development and that the timing and planning for it is underway.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

Exelixis Inc. in negotiations for new King of Prussia office-lab complex amid 'ambitious expansion plans'

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...cx_testVariant=cx_8&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

Exelixis Inc., an Alameda, California, biotechnology company, is in negotiations with Brandywine Realty Trust to have the real estate company develop a new 200,000- to 250,000-square-foot building in King of Prussia.

The complex would be constructed at 650 and 651 Park Ave. Half of the space would be offices while the other half would be labs.

Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) anticipates more than 600 employees to eventually work from the Park Avenue complex. The biotech company said that an agreement with Brandywine had yet to be reached on the development and that the timing and planning for it is underway.

Ugh. If I interviewed with any company and they told me I'd be working out of KOP I'd immediately leave the interview.

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Ugh. If I interviewed with any company and they told me I'd be working out of KOP I'd immediately leave the interview.

I'm still happy they chose the region over Boston, but I thought the same thing when I read this.

250k square feet in U City would result in another large building. I don't see how KoP is any more central than Philadelphia.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

I'm still happy they chose the region over Boston, but I thought the same thing when I read this.

250k square feet in U City would result in another large building. I don't see how KoP is any more central than Philadelphia.

Life sciences companies are signing to lease space in University City left and right... except at Schuylkill Yards. I guess that factory going up at 30th and Chestnut counts but other than Spark who has been in the area for ages, I haven't heard of any big tenants signing to lease space at Schuylkill Yards. I will ask again, what is Brandywine doing?????

[summersm343]

I'm not sure why people are surprised they picked KOP. There are a lot of companies in KOP. It's clearly an attractive place to do business, or they wouldn't be there.

There's not a ton of space or new builds (if any at all) in Wayne or Radnor. Plus, the office buildings in Wayne are basically King of Prussia anyways.

King of Prussia does have the town center now, easy access to Valley Forge Park, a Casino, a top golf coming, plus the mall and very easy highway access, and a transit line coming soon.

I know we all prefer these type of companies locate in the city, but it's not always going to work out that way. Right now there are 4 main Life Science clusters in the region = University City, the Navy Yard, King of Prussia and Spring House/Ambler.

Glad they chose the region at all honestly!

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

Life sciences companies are signing to lease space in University City left and right... except at Schuylkill Yards. I guess that factory going up at 30th and Chestnut counts but other than Spark who has been in the area for ages, I haven't heard of any big tenants signing to lease space at Schuylkill Yards. I will ask again, what is Brandywine doing?????

Brandywine has 400K sq ft of life sciences leases at Schuylkill Yards which hasn't been announced yet. I would imagine we'll hear those announcements by the end of this year.

They're also work on shifting Dechert and some other Cira Centre tenants to 3001 JFK to get that building off the ground, then converting more space at Cira Centre to life sciences space. 3001 JFK looks like it may be a mix of lab and office space.

[DeltaNerd]

Originally Posted by PHLtoNYC

I'm still happy they chose the region over Boston, but I thought the same thing when I read this.

250k square feet in U City would result in another large building. I don't see how KoP is any more central than Philadelphia.

I wonder this is KOP giving very favorable tax breaks and credits just to justify the KOP rail. Which still why KOP?

[Scottydont]

Life sciences companies are scattered throughout the Philadelphia region, not just in the city proper. Shouldn't really be a surprise they don't automatically pick Uni City

[PHLtoNYC]

Originally Posted by DeltaNerd

I wonder this is KOP giving very favorable tax breaks and credits just to justify the KOP rail. Which still why KOP?

Montgomery County in general is a favorable tax environment.
This conversation has been had... love it or hate it KoP / Upper Merion (and nearby Wayne & Radnor) are major employment hubs. Though disappointing some business choose them over U City...

1. This company could have chosen Boston, so it's as a win for the region to land a new growing company.

2. It is healthy for the Philadelphia region to have multiple economic hubs, KoP being one of them, (although U City is more central IMO).

[PHLtoNYC]

Article is a little confusing, and this legislation doesn't touch on the embarrassing $7.25 PA / federal minimum wage.

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage and tip regulations change on Friday. What will it look like?

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-minimum-wage-service-workers-20220801.html

Going into effect on Friday, Aug. 5, the new regulations update old laws regarding tipped workers, which have not been touched since 1977.
“Our regulations sometimes are a bit unclear or silent on certain areas and I think that these updates provide greater clarity to the business community and to workers who are being impacted by them,” said Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier.

[TonyTone]

I can't wait for Riverfront East infrastructure to start, it's gonna change that whole area.

I'm very pleased with Market St, years of work has made it into a desirable place and that speaks for all of Wilmington.

[jonesrmj]

I happened to stumble upon this video talking about SEPTA and the KOP extension line, and thought I'd share it in case you guys haven't seen it. Just curious, what do you think about what this guy has to say? I'm not really in the loop on SEPTA or the Philly suburbs in PA so I'm curious if you guys agree/disagree with what is said in his video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt8W9iGLRA4

[PHLtoNYC]

Million Dollar Listing Main Line (Bravo reference )

Bidding wars, cash offers, off-market deals continue to fuel red hot Main Line housing market
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia...ine-housing-market-june-2022-redfin.html

The Main Line housing market is showing no signs of cooling down despite nationwide warnings of slowing sales and potential buyers shying away. By some indicators, the Main Line is the hottest it's ever been.

Despite the uncertainty brought on by rising interest and mortgage rates, a volatile stock market and record-high inflation, the Philadelphia-area market has continued to attract buyers. Locally, prices are rising, many offers are still facing competing bids and Philadelphia is attracting out-of-town buyers like never before. Amid that, Philadelphia's affluent suburbs seem to be reaching new heights in the face of external pressures that traditionally produce a rapidly cooling market.

As of June, the lower Main Line — the area bounded by Route 476, the Schuylkill Expressway and City Avenue — is seeing its highest median sale price ($697,500), its highest sale-to-list price ratio (104.4%) and the highest percentage of homes to go above list price (59.3%), since real estate firm Redfin began tracking the data five years ago. It's also seeing homes leave the market at a median of 15 days, the lowest number in five years.

For example, Main Line Realtor Robin Gordon, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach, had 20 showings and multiple offers on a Bryn Mawr house she listed on Wednesday and that was sold by Thursday.

Both frequently sell homes in the seven-figure range, but Yakulis said she's also seeing a large number of buyers looking to downsize from their Main Line mansions, but still want to stay in the area. A lack of inventory for homes just below $1 million has led to a buying "frenzy," she said.

[EastSideHBG]

Possible “Town Center” in West Conshohocken takes initial steps

http://westconsho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/West-Conshohocken-Town-Center-Vision-1.pdf

The document then outlines five primary and four secondary objectives for the creation of a town center. The primary objectives include:

-repurposing the Borough Hall building for restaurant or retail space
-the construction of a parking garage adjacent to the Borough Hall building
-the creation of a public plaza
-creating a better pedestrian connection between the Borough Hall property, Saint Gertrude’s property, and the park
-allowing for the conversion of homes along Front and Ford streets to small-scale retail at street level and another above (retail or office)

The secondary objectives are:

-pedestrian bridges over Front Street and Matsonford Road
-encourage the creation of a walkway under the Matsonford Bridge (this was part of the Conshohocken/Whitemarsh Riverfront Plan)
-encourage non-pedestrian destinations such as a library, museum, or training center within the town center or nearby
-a landmark “West Conshohocken” sign on a pedestrian bridge



https://morethanthecurve.com/possible-town-center-in-west-conshohocken-takes-initial-steps/

[EastSideHBG]

Unfortunately I had known that the homeless population has exploded in Norristown because I can see it and it has been stretching out to neighboring areas but I had no idea that there was a 118% increase in MontCo from 2021-22!


Advocates say there’s ‘no place’ for unhoused people in Norristown, where it may soon be illegal to stay in parks past dusk

https://whyy.org/articles/norristown-pa-unhoused-people-dawn-to-dusk-park-ordinance/

“We’ve seen homelessness at record levels … we’ve never seen so much homelessness,” said Jessica Fenchel, vice president of adult behavioral health for Access Services, which does outreach to people without housing in several eastern Pennsylvania counties.

The number of unhoused people across Montgomery County has risen by at least 118% from 2021 to 2022, according to the county’s 2022 Point-in-Time (PIT) count. According to the PIT, as of January 2022, 568 individuals were sleeping in one of the county’s emergency shelters (including hotel rooms paid for with public funding), transitional housing projects, or outdoors.

Of the 568 unhoused people, about 200 are based in Norristown, according to Mike Kingsley, the shelter and outreach manager at the Norristown Hospitality Center.

On top of that, the Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center — Montgomery County’s only 24/7 emergency housing service for single adults — closed on June 30. The organization tried to extend their lease to bid for more time to find a new home, but Norristown rejected the request. The land is set to be conveyed to Norristown.

Norristown is one of the poorest Municipalities in Montgomery County, rent is on the rise, and affordable housing is scarce across the suburbs. Many people in Norristown are on the brink of homelessness, Kingsley said. The Norristown Hospitality Center is “constantly” getting calls from families who say they are about to lose their apartment, he said.

“The timing of this is saying, even more … to people who are homeless: ‘There’s no place for you,’” Fenchel said.

[EastSideHBG]

Apartments in Whitemarsh moving through approval process

During the July 26th meeting of the Whitemarsh Township Planning Commission, the members voted 4-2 to recommend to the township’s board of supervisors that they grant “Conditional Final Plan” approval to KW Acquisition Corporation for its plan to construct 598 apartments straddling the board of the township and the Borough of Conshohocken at 401 and 433 Washington Street.



https://morethanthecurve.com/apartments-in-whitemarsh-moving-through-approval-process/

[PHLtoNYC]

A developer plans luxury homes on a beloved Main Line property. But locals are pushing to ‘Save Rock Hill Farm.’

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate/che...uxury-housing-development--20220808.html

Long owned by a conservation-minded local family, Rock Hill Farm was purchased for $25.4 million last December by the high-profile developer and businessman J. Brian O’Neill, who is seeking approval to build as many as 22 luxury houses on portions of the 246-acre property.

In a July 7 letter, Campbell presented to the commission three potential approaches to developing the property at South Valley, White Horse, and Grubb Roads.

[Phillyguy215]

I live in Pottstown, lucky my fiancé owns the house even though we are still looking to move because in the last 5 years that I’ve lived in Pottstown, things weren’t that bad until around Covid happened. I’ve seen the homeless population explode in Pottstown. I used to work at a recovery house in Pottstown that housed about 45 “patients”. Most were sent to the house straight from jail/mental institutions/medical facilities”. I worked there about a year until I switched to vending; literally a year tomorrow. I’ve noticed since the house was right next to a shelter. Often, almost every day I would show up to work and go smoke a cigarette with the Paitents and ask them how they’re day was, I would find homeless sleeping in the smoking area (since it is a covered area with seating) because the shelter was full, every other day or so it would seem more and more homeless were showing up in Pottstown. Coming home since I cross where I used to work over high st and it’s next to the library and the only 2 towers in Pottstown. There’s more then I’ve seen since I would visit my grandma in Kensington back in the day, (before 2010). Pottstown homeless population was a problem 2 years ago and it does seem like it’s doubled.

I live a block away from where the 2 houses in Pottstown blew up and killed 5. Id walk my dog over to the empty lots to go shit and the kids that lived there used to want to pet him and my dog loved that. After the explosion when they were checking the houses that were in the vicinity of the explosion, they condemned 12 houses and I was talking to the families that lived there that I knew prior to the explosion, some are they themselves homeless now because they didn’t get much $/or no $ at all yet and got no where to go and are homeless too now.

I was driving though Norristown today to try and grab some pics of the court house that’s under construction and got crap pics of 134 Elm st In conshy. But I noticed and commented to my colleague that the homeless are everywhere like in Kensington in Norristown it seems, at almost every light I stopped, the more I noticed just how bad the homeless population is growing in Norristown.

It’s sad that all these people are homeless and they’re building apartments that have less then 1k sq ft and are selling them for $1,750 knowing damn well that there are pockets with high density and poverty who are getting priced out of even the suburbs.

Sorry if it’s off topic at all it’s something I deal with and hear about from Pottstown people and my wife who isn’t from Pottstown or the region.

[Urbanthusiat]

Almac Group plans $65M expansion to Souderton campus, more than 350 new jobs in Montgomery County