By Paul Schwedelson – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
A local developer is looking to a build its "legacy project" on the 90-acre former Prudential Insurance Co. property in Dresher next to the Promenade at Upper Dublin.
BET Investments is planning to develop 600 apartments, 160 stacked townhomes, 150 senior and assisted living units, a 100-room hotel, 106,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 100,000 square feet of medical or office space, a police substation and connected trails with outdoor exercise stations.
The project would be at 2101 Welsh Road, along the western side of Welsh Road and north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It’s southeast of the Promenade at Upper Dublin, which BET also developed and debuted in 2020.
The developer bought the property from Prudential for $30 million in 2022.
“The way we’re looking at this is it’s such an opportunity to build our legacy project,” BET Investments President Michael Markman said.
BET is owned by Bruce E. Toll, the co-founder of homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc.
BET presented its plans to Upper Dublin Township’s Planning Commission in mid-July and is seeking a zoning change to allow for the hotel, townhomes and senior living units. The text amendment process could take three to four months and the following conditional use and site plan approval could take most of next year, Markman said. He’s aiming for construction on apartments to begin at the end of 2025. While the entire project could take eight to 10 years to complete, Markman said the majority of it could be built within five years.
The existing property has three interconnected office buildings totaling 861,000 square feet and a parking lot with 2,175 spaces. Demolition is planned to start in two weeks, Markman said. The building housed more than 2,000 employees at its peak but only had 100 by the time the insurer moved out at the end of last year.
BET’s office is at the Montgomery Corporate Center, a 226,000-square-foot office building that overlooks the $200 million, 402-unit Promenade at Upper Dublin. Being based so close to the site gives BET an advantage in the development process, Markman said.
He foresees the development becoming a premier destination.
“It’s just taking into account the planning on a very large parcel of ground on an infill location. It’s rare we have the opportunity to do that,” Markman said. “Because we are here and it’s where my office is, we put much, much more thought into it than we have in a lot of other occasions. It puts us in a situation where we can make one of the most interesting projects that’s ever been built in the Philadelphia suburbs.”
The 600 apartments are planned to be split among three buildings in the middle of the property so they have the least impact on neighbors. The three buildings would be built above a podium with the majority of parking underneath.
Monthly rent for studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments is projected to average $2,500, Markman said. Amenities would include an indoor and outdoor pool, office spaces, podcast rooms and a large fitness center. The apartment buildings would be designed to offer a resort-style environment and even more luxurious than the Promenade at Upper Dublin.
“Just really the best in class apartments in the suburbs of Philadelphia,” Markman said. “That would be our goal here.”
The stacked townhomes would have two floors for the bottom units stacked beneath two floors for the upper units. They’d be on the western side of the property, closest to Enclave at The Promenade, a single-family home development built by Toll Brothers. The senior living building would be next to that, along the edge of the property next to the Dublin Hunt single-family home development.
Unlike at the Promenade at Upper Dublin, no retail would be included in the apartment buildings. The retail is planned to be built in phases along Welsh Road on the east side of the property. Instead of building it all at once, BET would wait for tenants to sign leases before construction starts, meaning each retail space would be catered to specific tenants.
Full story: https://tinyurl.com/t9s34xbc
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