Officials break ground for new Conshohocken borough office and police station

GMCS Editorial:  “This is a story about a public-private partnership and the work of great leaders.”  As a former appointed government official that was responsible for public works and public construction, I know from firsthand experience about the value and necessity of partnering with stakeholders, public and private, to advance projects.  Without these partnerships, many projects would simply never make it off the paper.

This is an excellent example of how collaborative partnerships between government, management and labor have worked to advance a large scale commercial project, effectively removing a blighted and nonrevenue generating building from this viable, urban center and creating a center for government administration, first responders and a sustainable economic engine in the immediate and highly visible town center.

This building, and others that are to be phased in at a later date, will immediately begin to serve the community though the creation of community based construction jobs, regional commercial contractor work, payroll & business taxes, etc.  Great to see this project moving forward with the participation and collaboration of so many diverse stakeholder groups reinforcing the value of these beneficial, collaborative partnerships between industry, government and community stakeholders.   

Congratulations Conshohocken Borough on your continued revitalization!

Officials break ground for new Conshohocken borough office and police station

CONSHOHOCKEN — A neatly arranged row of dirt in front of the sidewalk, more than a dozen borrowed shovels and a small gathering of local officials kicked off the one-year, $11,876,221 renovation of the former Verizon building Monday afternoon into a police station, borough offices and new commercial spaces on Fayette Street.

William Glazer, the president of Keystone Property Group (KPG) in Lower Merion, Montgomery County commissioners’ Chairman Josh Shapiro, Conshohocken Councilwoman Anita Barton, Councilman Ike Griffith, Councilman Ed Phipps and Conshohocken police Chief Michael Orler talked about the significance of the renovation project.

Seven years ago, borough council purchased the three-story, 60,000-square-foot building for $3.25 million but was stymied by asbestos problems and high costs for renovation. The building remained vacant without generating real estate revenue or earned income taxes for the borough over the past seven years.

“I’m extremely excited to get rid of this eyesore and to have a home base for the residents in the center of town,” Barton said. “It’s been eight years. This is something we have been needing for a long time.”

Glazer said the project was “a re-imagining of a diamond in the rough.”

“This is a story about a public-private partnership and the work of great leaders,” he said. “This started a year ago with the vision of borough council. We were able to craft a way to make this a 21st-century borough hall.”

Griffith said, “It is time to get the show on the road. We’re going to turn this building into a state-of-the-art building. It is time to get to work.”

Shapiro talked about “the power of a vision” for a “great community like Conshohocken.” He praised “the power of people coming together” and the “strong leadership” of Conshohocken officials.

“This will help Conshohocken take its next great step,” Shapiro said. “Big things are happening in the borough.”

KPG won a public bid process to redevelop the Verizon building and construct 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 new borough building, at 402 Fayette St., will have a new façade, roof and building systems, a separate sally-port entrance for the first-floor police department, an elevator and an automatic sprinkler system. Borough offices and a public meeting space will be located on the first floor. Three retail spaces will face Fayette Street and rental office space will be built on the second floor.

In late February, Conshohocken officials agreed with KPG to rewrite the Verizon construction agreement making Conshohocken the owner of the building. KPG agreed to divide the building into a borough unit (BU) and a non-borough unit (NBU) for leasable office space. The borough got space for the police station and borough offices. The $11,876,221 cost includes $10,432,240 for the basic renovations and the borough office fit-out. The $1,443,981 remainder will be used to fit out the NBU spaces and attract an office tenant.

Under an earlier contract, KPG held the ownership of the building and Conshohocken planned to lease office space for the borough offices.

In early February, Conshohocken officials acknowledged the estimated project cost had ballooned by $1,520,329 to $13,145,000, a 13 percent increase. The larger price tag was attributed to requirements to pay prevailing wage rates because the construction is a borough project and state requirements to expand the size of the secured police parking and police sally port. The old construction financing included substantial leasing commissions.

Chief Orler said the new building would double the square footage of the police department office at 720 Fayette St.

“We have 21 officers. We call this (Verizon) building the Waffle House,” said Orler, referring to the wavy exterior wall. “This is going to be a super, super place for us.”

Source: Times Herald