POTTSTOWN — The developer involved with the development of the former Mrs. Smith’s Pies site into Hanover Square has proposed buying two adjacent properties that are owned by the borough with an eye toward developing those as well.
Greg Lingo, a manager at Valley Forge Real Estate, appeared before borough council Tuesday to answer questions about his proposal to purchase the property at 190-193 S. Hanover St., known locally as the Hess lot; as well as 327 Industrial Highway, the cleared lot that was once home to the Lincoln Underwear factory.
In addition to being involved in the development of Hanover Square and the adjacent former multi-story shirt factory building there on Cherry Street, Lingo told council he also renovated the 16 “Bringhurst units on Laurel Street. So I have a large investment in that gateway area,” said Lingo, who has previously tried to purchase both properties. “I’d like to see that gateway vibrant. I have a big investment there.”
According to a proposal letter sent to Pottstown Area Economic Development, the borough’s economic development agency, Lingo’s company has invested more than $25 million in properties in Pottstown’s “Gateway District” adjacent to the Hanover Street bridge.
For the 0.156-acre “Hess lot” on South Hanover Street, so named because a Hess gas station was once located there, Valley Forge has proposed a four-story, 13,500-square-foot building with a cafe on the first floor and temperature-controlled storage units on the three upper floors.
Lincoln Underwear site
According to the letter sent to PAED, two possibilities are being considered for the former Lincoln Underwear site, which is about 1.5 acres.
The first proposal would see a three-story, 13,500-square-foot building with four retail units on the ground level and eight rental apartments above, along with 10 stacked garage townhomes, for a total of 20 units, along the rear of the property backing onto an extended Bringhurst Alley.
Alternatively, the developer would also consider a large mixed-use apartment building for the site, according to the letter.
Lingo praised the borough’s insistence on brick and “hardi-plank” facades on the properties in Hanover Square and said he would seek to duplicate that on his units.
“It really creates a lasting value for the property,” he said.
Nevertheless, Lingo said he recognizes that “the properties are challenged. The flood plain bi-sects both of them so you’re limited on what can be built there, and the Hess lot, obviously, has environmental contamination.”
All these ideas are speculative as the borough has not yet agreed to sell either property and the proposal was unsolicited, according to Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr.
“We just wanted to make you aware of it and get your temperature,” he said.
Garner said that should council be interested in selling, there are a variety of methods to go about it, warning that if it sells directly, it would have to put the properties out to bid and take the highest bidder, no matter what the buyer proposed building on either site. By using PAED as the seller, more control can be exercised over the final project, he said.
The borough purchased the Hess lot in 2006 for $40,000, according to an appraisal done for the borough in 2012. The developer has proposed a purchase price of $225,000.
The developer has offered $525,000 for the Industrial Highway site.
In 2010, a developer proposed an $11 million 55-unit age-restricted housing project on the Industrial Highway site, but that idea never came to fruition.
Source: Berkshire mont
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