Developer's agreement for $200 million plan adopted in Conshohocken

CONSHOHOCKEN — A developer’s agreement with Keystone Property Group (KPG) of Lower Merion to build a hotel, an office tower and a parking garage on Fayette Street and a new borough building for police and borough workers was unanimously approved Wednesday by Borough Council.

The $200 million KPG plan was selected by council in mid-September over a competing proposal by Brandywine Realty Trust (BRT) of Radnor.

The 32-page agreement will be ratified Friday by the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority.

KPG agreed to build an 18-story, 200-room hotel at the intersection of Fayette and Elm streets, an eight-story parking garage to replace an existing three-story garage and a new, 16-story, 200,000-square-foot office building at the intersection of First Avenue and Fayette Street.

The original proposal had a $3.2 million purchase price for the Verizon building, which is owned by the borough, and an $11,624,671 construction budget for the building that is contingent on Keystone receiving either a $3 million Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) or a $4 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RCAP) grant.

The agreement approved Wednesday night said KPG and the borough will negotiate a lease up to 30 years. The agreement said it “shall further guaranty the borough the right to acquire the Verizon building, free and clear, from Keystone or its successor or assigns, at the expiration of the term of the lease for $1, as detailed in the proposal.”

The borough will get 20,000 square feet in the new, 65,000-square-foot building and will be required to acquire the “secondary Wells Fargo surface parking lot located on Fifth Avenue, via eminent domain or other necessary action, and include in the sale to KPG,” according to the KPG proposal.

“When I look at the number of jobs this will create, this plan takes care of the property at Fourth and Fayette,” said council President Paul McConnell.

“This is a building that has been sitting for many years,” Councilman Robert Stokley said.

In other business Wednesday, council unanimously adopted the $10,807,600 2014 budget for 2014, and a real estate millage rate of 3.5 mills that did not increase the borough tax rate.

Source: Times Herald