A Philadelphia real estate company plans to undertake a proposed $150 million development along the banks of the Schuylkill River in Bridgeport that has potential to be transformative to the small Montgomery County community.
PRDC Properties plans to develop 250 apartments, 348 townhouses and 7,000 square feet of retail space on 35 acres that have had high hopes for development over the years but with nothing coming to fruition. The real estate company is poised to get final approval for the project on Nov. 10 and expects to build what is called Bridgeview over four phases.
“In terms of what this project means to the borough – transformative change in no uncertain terms,” said Keith S. Truman, borough manager. “With a current population of about 4,600, this project, once built out, will increase our population by about 25%, or 1,100 to 1,200 more residents. This project will be the catalyst for more residential and commercial redevelopment of varying shapes and sizes, furthering the borough’s current goals of revitalizing its commercial corridor and diversifying its housing stock.”
Bridgeport has been down this road before with the site and other developers with nothing to show for it. This time seems different.
The now vacant site had been known for years as the Continental Business Center. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd flooded it and in 2001, the 500,000-square-foot former textile mill, which had been converted into an office and industrial complex, was destroyed in a fire that had 500 firefighters battling a blaze for 18 hours. Smoke from the fire was reportedly seen as far away as South Jersey.
In 2003, local firm O’Neill Properties Group had proposed developing a 250-unit apartment complex along with 325 townhomes and received approvals for those plans. By 2017, the real estate company returned the property back to the lender, UC Funds, a Boston-based firm that finances commercial real estate.
In 2018, Linden Lane Capital, also a Philadelphia-area real estate company, stepped in and wanted to develop the site in a similar fashion as to what O'Neill Properties had proposed.
“The company never really got past solving the issues surrounding building a residential development on a parcel prone to flooding, which involves bringing a significant amount of fill onto the site to raise it above the floodplain level and gaining the necessary clearances from regulatory bodies such as the [Department for Environmental Protection,” Truman said. “Their agreement of sale fell through as well.”
Late last year, PRDC Properties notified borough officials the company had put the property under agreement. Ever since, it and borough officials have been working together on the plans and zoning approvals needed for the project to get underway.
PRDC focuses most of its development activity in Philadelphia but has ventured to the suburbs before though it hasn’t done anything on this scale. It previously looked at the 35 acres in Bridgeport, making an offer on the land in 2017 but was unable to strike a deal. PRDC was finally able to put it under agreement but has yet to settle on the property, said David Perlman, CEO of PRDC. He declined to disclose a sale price.
The seller, UC Funds, is helping to finance Bridgeview and PRDC is putting up the remainder of the money needed to develop the project, Perlman said.
“We saw an opportunity and were able to take the parcel and get creative and create something special,” he said.
While PRDC has been going through the approval process, Perlman said it has already spent $2 million on demolition and clearing the property and bringing loads of fill to raise it out of the floodplain. It has also undertaken environmental remediation. “We’ve been working on it for six months,” he said.
PRDC plans to construct:
The townhouses will be priced from the high $300,000s to mid-$500,000s. The apartments will rent for between $1,200 and $2,500 a month.
“Where would you get a townhome in Upper Merion or Conshohocken for $400,000?,” Perlman said. “This is in the Upper Merion School District, minutes from King of Prussia and near Conshohocken. That is where we saw the value and opportunity for this project.”
Bridgeport is located between King of Prussia and Conshohocken and across a bridge from Norristown, which has a SEPTA transportation center and is the county seat.
The first phase is expected to get under way during the second quarter of next year. Perlman estimates it will take four years to build out once construction starts.
Bridgeport is hopeful it will not only revitalize a barren, expansive part of its waterfront but bring in new residents, tax revenues and additional economic development activity. It's not unusual for such residential projects to establish a critical mass that attracts other developers and retailers that cater to a new population that has been created.
“Even if for some odd reason, PRDC does not end up developing this project, the borough will be left with a parcel that has been cleared of the junk and debris that [was] allowed to accumulate and is ready to develop,” Truman said. “That being said, I have every expectation that PRDC is the firm that will see this project through to completion.”
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