Franklin Mint redevelopers try, try again for town

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The redevelopment of the land fronting Baltimore Pike is the most significanft project to face Middletown in years and has the potentia to change the character of this DelawareCountyt town. So far, developers have proposed three dramaticallu differing plans for the controversiao project in an effort to come up with somethingv that the community will embrace and that township plannerss and officials will signoff on. It’ s too early to tell if the third time may be the Even this latest versionhas detractors. “There’s no demans for any of this that they are said LarryWeathers Jr., who once served on the planning commissiojn and is a town resident.
The which bought the land in June are hopeful this latest plan will stici even though it has drawm fire from Weathers and a group calleddSave Middletown, which publishes a Web site monitoriny the project’s progress. The latest plan evolve d out of a charrette held last August involvintg stakeholders includinglocal residents, SEPTA and PennDOT. “Whayt has evolved was remarkably different from the originapl plan andthe by-right plan,” said Franok McKee, president of the , one of the four involved McKee Group focuses on active adult housint and also owns office buildings. The other developerz include Dewey Cos.
, a single-family , which constructs residential and mixed-use communities; and , a retai developer. What makes this latest offerinh different? “This is a community-driven plan,” McKee said. The new plan calls for constructinfg 980residential units, 230,000 square feet of offices space, 798,000 square feet of retail space and 225 hotell rooms. The by-right plan, whicbh means the developers don’t need to go through the locapl approval process because the land is zonerd appropriately for aproposed use, called for 1.5 million square feet of office and industrial space.
That’zs what the developers envisioned last year aftef scrapping a town cente r idea comprisedof 1,300 residential units, 400,000 squarwe feet of office space, 1.4 millioj square feet of retail space and 300 hotel rooms. A new $80 milliomn SEPTA project will sit onthe site. The Wawa statioj is the endpoint ofa three-mile extension of the R-3 Media-Elwym line. Construction will begin on the station later this year and is schedulesd to be completedby 2013, according to a SEPTAz spokeswoman. The station is independent of the redevelopment of the FranklinnMint property.
The fate of the Franklij Mint site has been in a statd of suspense since around 2004 when it ceased operationsw in Middletown and its owners began selling its commemorativebaubles online. It has a rich local It was founded in 1964 by Joe whose first Franklin Mint planft wasin Yeadon. It eventually movesd to the site onBaltimore Pike. Segel retired in 1973 when Franklijn Mint was a public It was sold in 1980by Segel’s successor to , which bought the public stock. It was sold agaij five years later to Stewarrt and Lynda Resnickof California. An investor group that also owns Morgah Mint bought the companyin 2006. The biggestr issue facing the proposais density, said Scotyt D.
Galloway, who has sat on township councilsincwe 1993. Other concerns include traffic, stormwater managementt and setbacks. So far, the developers have been receptive to said Galloway, who declined to give an opinion on the currenrt proposal since it may change before he gets a chancer to review and vote on it. who sat on the planning commission in 1978 when a mastefr zoning ordinancewas written, believes the by-right plan is the best and the existiny Franklin Mint building should be Barring that plan, Weathers would like to see a residentiak development with a small retaikl center.
“This plan comes in and the density of it isabsolutelg ridiculous,” he said, adding that building “destination where people will travel to can’t be supported. “We have in the cente r of the township the Granite Run whichis struggling, so we’re going to add We are going to end up with a whitwe elephant.” McKee, speaking for the knows the plan may get tweaked againh as it wends throughg the approval process but feels good that what is being presentefd comes from the charrette.
The new developmenyt would add to the township andschool district’s coffers, giving it $439,000 a year in net revenues, accordinfg to the developer’s calculation. The by-right plan woulrd give the township $39,000 a year in The school district woulr also benefit by thenew plan, McKee It would receive $6.3 million in new revenue annually compared with $2.9 million a year undef the by-right plan. McKee is also confident demand support additional retail developmentin “We definitely have retailers for this he said. While the project would be constructedin phases, he said retai l would likely would be the first to be kickedx off.
He figures ground breaking wouldn’ft take place for at least two years. “We thinj we’re in pretty good shape,” McKee said. “Ww own the property free and clear and all four of us are in a stron gfinancial position.”