New owners bring new plan for Gap’s Houston Run corporate center

New ownership for the Houston Run corporate center in Gap is bringing new occupants and vision to the property.

Triggering the changes is the December 2013 purchase of Houston Run by the Weaver family, operators of the Shady Maple complex in East Earl.

The Weavers paid $7.8 million to acquire the 110 acres from Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s soft-pretzel chain, and her family, according to LNP files.

In their first 18 months as owners, the Weavers are addressing both the undeveloped portions of the Salisbury Township campus and its existing buildings.

To devise a strategy for the undeveloped portions, the Weavers have retained ELA Group to help them create a master plan.

The Beilers also had retained ELA for that purpose. But the Weavers will be devising their own.

“It’s a new slate,” said Brent Good, senior project manager at ELA.

The uses that the master plan will include remains to be determined. Good said no decisions have been made as yet.

The undeveloped portions consist of 27 acres of commercial land and 54 acres of industrial land.

Demand for housing and services in Gap will rise as the area’s new e-commerce fulfillment center for Urban Outfitters ramps up, said Glenn Weaver.

He is chief financial officer for both Houston Run Properties, which operates the corporate campus, and Shady Maple Companies.

"Our focus is on serving the needs of the community," said  Weaver.

The Weavers also have made changes to the former Family Center of Gap,  a 53,000-square-foot building  in Houston Run.

The Weavers have renamed it the Houston Run Community Center but retained its focus on serving the local population.

The community center stands next to a professional office building of about the same size.

Lancaster County Osteopathic & Integrative Health has moved from the professional center to the community center.

Another professional center tenant, Pequea Valley Medicine, dissolved and a third, Tree of Life Ministries, moved to Ephrata.

That leaves CPRS Physical Therapy and Lancaster Medical Group as the professional center’s sole tenants.

In sum, the professional center now stands only 10 percent occupied, down from 20 percent under the Beilers’ ownership.

So the Weavers are considering converting the empty portions of the professional center into housing, said Weaver.

The community center is faring better.

Besides Lancaster County Osteopathic, the community center has 11 other tenants.

They are: Shady Maple Cafe, Gap Community Church, Salisbury Township Library, Family Resource & Counseling Center, an early learning center, Bare Financial Services, an office for Anne Beiler's personal appearance booking manager, Salus Solutions, the nonprofit Naaman Center, Cornerstone Pregnancy Care Services and the nonprofit Helping to Heal Haiti.

According to Weaver, the community center now stands 95 percent occupied, up from 90 percent when the Beilers owned it.

The mix of uses there and in the neighboring professional center make Houston Run "a one-stop shopping place for community," said Ashley Hopkins, property manager.

Finally, the Weavers have converted a historic farmhouse that was used as a residence by the Beilers’ daughter and her family into a vacation rental property. The Brackbill House, built in 1830, is booked through November.

To showcase the Houston Run facilities, the Weavers are hosting a “grand re-opening” and open house on Saturday, June 27 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Source: Lancaster Online