Home Care In Richlandtown, PA

As tenants fled from the Richland Plaza shopping center in Quakertown, Velocity Venture Partners Founding Partner Zach Moore thought, “There’s got to be an opportunity here.”

At 90% vacant, Velocity acquired the 225,000-square-foot retail center for $16.7 million on Wednesday and plans to convert it into a multi-tenant industrial site. The entire project, combining the acquisition cost and construction costs would bring the project to $22 million, Moore said. He foresees a mix of warehouse distribution and specialty manufacturing tenants.

Bala Cynwyd-based Velocity has built its reputation on buying distressed assets and converting them to industrial space. The Richland Plaza purchase is particularly opportune because of certain elements already in place. It also represents the company’s first acquisition of a shopping center of this size.

“The most exciting component of this project for us is that it’s incredibly unique and we’re the first do it,” Moore said. “… Our competitors are focused on sourcing true industrial products. We continue to find ways to source deals creatively.”

Velocity contacted the family that owned the Bucks County property, which was already considering selling the former mall in an online auction. The seller was APS Associates LLC. The entity purchased the property for $13.475 million in 2010.

Prior to purchasing the 20-acre property at 733 S. West End Blvd., Velocity worked with Richland Township to change zoning to allow industrial uses. That set the stage for the company to buy the property, built in 1975, with plans to convert its use. That alone helped increase the property’s value, Moore said.

The building is also shaped as a long and narrow rectangle, similar to how industrial buildings are built. Velocity plans to take down the existing drop ceilings but much of the space already has exposed ceilings and polished concrete, up to an industrial standard. The shopping center has air conditioning and heat, which Moore said is rare in industrial buildings of this size. The building also faces Route 309, providing a rare signage opportunity compared with industrial buildings tucked away into less busy areas.

Those key drivers give Moore optimism in the property’s future.

“Our focus today is getting it in a position where it’s leasable from the redevelopment, construction perspective,” Moore said.

Moore lives in nearby Harleysville and Velocity has bought several properties in Quakertown. Vice President of Asset Management and Development John Fiore previously built several retail developments in the area and had experience working with Richland Township on zoning changes. That combination led to Velocity identifying the site as a valuable property and executing the deal.

Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Wells Fargo and Pearl Vision are the remaining tenants at the property. The 84,405-square-foot former Bon-Ton department store vacated the shopping center five years ago. A Redner's grocery store, the other property’s other anchor, closed in 2022.

“Over the last three years particularly, we’ve just seen that site crash from an occupancy perspective,” Moore said.

Velocity owns more than 8 million square feet of industrial space throughout the region spanning across 100 properties. About 60% to 70% of the properties Velocity has bought are existing industrial sites while the rest are a mix of office, retail and lab space. Velocity has bought retail properties around 20,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. The Richland Plaza’s 225,000 square feet is a new type of property for Velocity.

Given how the retail and industrial markets have changed in recent years, Moore and co-founder Tony Grelli are looking for more opportunities to buy properties similar to the Richland Plaza.

“I think it’s going to be an incredible case study,” Moore said.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Richland Township is gearing up to welcome people back to its community festival.

The 13th annual Richland Community Days will be held from 4 to 11:30 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday on the corner of Schoolhouse Road and Theatre Drive. The road will be closed from Theatre Drive to the Pitt-Johnstown entrance during the festival.

Duaine Detrick, a Richland Community Days committee member, said organizers are eager to welcome the event back after ongoing COVID-19 concerns cancelled it in 2020 and 2021.

"People are so excited for this to happen. I've been getting people coming up to me and saying they're so glad we're bringing it back, that they missed it and they're planning on coming," he said. "It's a great event for the area. The support we've had for this has been above and beyond what we could have hoped."

Richland Community Days will feature a variety of musical entertainment, an array of food vendors with festival fare, handmade craft vendors, business booths, a parade, children's activities, games, a car cruise and fireworks.

"There's something for everybody to do, whether they're younger people or older people," Detrick said. "We have so many things crammed into a day and a half."

Friday's entertainment will include Stacy & The Rejects at 5:30 p.m. and Shades of June at 9:30 p.m. on the Field Stage.

The parade will step off at 7 p.m. Friday. It will begin on Theatre Drive behind Richland Town Centre and proceed to the traffic light at Richland High School.

"The parade does well on Friday evening, and people line up and down Theatre Drive for it, and even if they don't have someone in the parade they like to watch it," Detrick said.

On the Music Tent Stage, Johnstown Civic Band will entertain at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Ole 97 Johnny Cash tribute band at 7:30 p.m.

"We have two big stages with entertainment continuously," Detrick said. "There's top-notch entertainers this year with a wide variety of music for everyone's musical tastes."

Activities on Saturday will feature the antique and classic car and motorcycle cruise, which will begin at 11 a.m. The vehicles will be on display along Schoolhouse Road in front of the Highland Community Library. The cruise is open to all types of vehicles of any age including vehicles from the early 1900's to muscle cars and tuners.

"People really like to come and look at the cars, and with all the other activities it prompts them to stick around," Detrick said. "We normally expect to see around 100 cars."

Music will include Cajun Norm & The Jam Band at 4 p.m., Octane at 7 p.m. and Giants of Science at 10 p.m. on the Field Stage.

Performing on Music Tent Stage will be Manic Mango at 11:30 a.m., Ground Zero at 2:30 p.m., Three of Hearts at 5:30 p.m. and Jeff Jimerson & Airborne at 8:30 p.m. on the Music Tent Stage.

"Jeff Jimerson & Airborne is back by overwhelming popular demand," Detrick said. "He will sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' to kick off the fireworks. It's such a cool thing, and that's not something that happens at other events."

A fireworks display, sponsored by the Polacek family and First National Bank Wealth Management, will light up the night sky at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

"Every year, the show is spectacular and we hear from people that it's one of the best fireworks shows in Pennsylvania," Detrick said. "The fireworks are up close and personal, and that's what makes it unique. I encourage people to get there early and stay afterward because there is entertainment following the fireworks."

Throughout the festival a children's area in front of the Richland Township Municipal Building on Schoolhouse Road will feature inflatable rides and vendors offering various games and activities.

Proceeds will benefit East Hills Recreation.

"We hope people will come and see that the event is back and we want to continue it as one of the premier events in the region," Detrick said. "We also hope people have have a good time and enjoy all the activities and leave with smiles on their faces and say it was great again."

There is no admission fee.

Pets are not permitted on festival grounds.

Free parking will be available at adjacent fields as well as Richland High School, Pitt-Johnstown, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College and East Hills Recreation.

For a complete schedule information, visit www.rcdays.com or Richland Community Days' Facebook page.

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Kelly Urban is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. She can be reached at (814) 532-5073. Follow her on Twitter @KellyUrban25.

A hike and bike trail in the works for the last 13 years is finally opened in Upper Bucks County.

Officials cut the ribbon last Thursday for the Upper Bucks Rail Trail outside the Richland Township Fire & Rescue station at 64 Shelly Road.

Richland Parks and Recreation Board Chairman Thomas Marino said he first started pushing the idea during a walking trip to a nearby fast food restaurant with his children.

"Thirteen years ago ... I wanted to walk my kids to Dairy Queen. There's a very busy road to get across and it couldn't be done," Marino said.

Marino, now a township resident of 17 years, began pressing the township to pursue a trail, with Marino himself getting involved in both the township and county recreation boards.

The Upper Bucks Rail Trail took root about seven years ago, Marino said, when negotiations over use of the right-of-way began between SEPTA and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

“Bucks County took that vision and brought it to where it is today,” Marino said, resulting in 17 continuous miles of trail from Hellertown to the southern end of Richland Township.

The new 3.2-mile trail connects to the Saucon Rail Trail in Lehigh and Northampton counties, and Appalachian Mountain Club Pennsylvania Highlands Regional Trails Network.

The rail trail also connects The Circuit, an 800-mile bicycle network that runs throughout the Delaware Valley.

The $1.5 million project, which includes design and construction costs that came in about $300,000 under previous estimates, was funded through the state's Act 13 Marcellus Legacy Fund.

More than 50 people came to last week's ribbon cutting, a turnout County Commissioner Chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia pointed to a testiment to the trail's importance in the community.

“This trail is something we need right now – to connect us to nature, to connect us to our physical selves, to connect us to other people we all meet along the way,” Marseglia said.

Marseglia added the trail had been something county officials had considered as far back as the 1990s.

"Many iterations of government ... lots of transitions of power have gone through, and yet this still was able to be completed," said Marseglia.

“I think it speaks to the fact that people of all political parties have worked to get this trail open, which just goes to show how important it is to work together.”

Patricia McCloskey of the Appalachian Mountain Club said the trail is an important addition to the 300-mile, 13-county Highlands Trail Network in Pennsylvania.

Local organizations like Quakertown Alive! are working to provide improvements such as signage, bike racks, bike repair stations, McCloskey said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has provided a $30,000 grant to develop a regional active transportation plan in the area.

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Neighbor News

Walter H. Cressman honored for decades of board service to Penn Community Bank and other Pennridge-area community organizations

Rose Strong, Neighbor

PERKASIE, Pa. (February 2017) – Penn Community Bank is pleased to announce that Walter H. Cressman has been named an “Outstanding Director” by the Philadelphia Business Journal for his leadership on the board of directors of Penn Community Bank.

The award recognizes directors who have shepherded successful organizations through periods of change and revenue growth. A 37-year member of the bank’s board of directors, Cressman served for many years as board president and was instrumental in the creation of Penn Community Bank in 2015.

“Walter exemplifies community service,” said Jeane M. Coyle, President and CEO of Penn Community Bank. “He has given generously of his time and talents for decades, and we are proud to see his service being recognized in this way.”

A longtime resident of Richlandtown, Cressman first joined the board of what was then First Federal Savings & Loan of Perkasie in 1979. He was following in the footsteps of his own father, Howard, who had served on the bank’s board and as its president for many years.

During Cressman’s tenure on the board, seven branches – in Bedminster, Buckingham, Milford, New Britain, Poole’s Corner, Quakertown, Richlandtown – were added to the bank’s four branches, in Dublin, Riegelsville and two in Perkasie. The bank also added insurance and investment products to its services during Cressman’s time as chairman of the board. In 1991, he was involved in the bank’s name change to First Savings Bank of Perkasie. Later, he was integral in adding a mutual holding company structure.

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Always committed to community banking, Cressman helped lead the bank through unification in 2014 with a fellow mutual bank, First Federal of Bucks County, to form Penn Community Bank, now the leading mutual financial organization in Bucks County and the second largest in Pennsylvania.

“It has been an important goal of mine over the years to ensure that Bucks County residents have the choice to do business with an independent, mutual financial organization that is responsive to community needs, not to shareholders,” said Cressman. “I’m proud that the bank is stronger today than it was when I joined the board decades ago, and I’m honored to have been able to serve the organization throughout the years.”

In addition to his leadership of the bank board, Cressman served on the board of directors of Grand View Hospital for 34 years, stepping down in 2014. During his time as chairman of the finance committee, the hospital’s investments grew from less than $2 million to more than $220 million.

A prominent Upper Bucks County businessman, Cressman ran his family’s business, Cress Gas Company, which had been founded by his father in 1939, the same year Walter was born. In 1961, when Cressman took over the company, it had 750 customers and five employees. When he sold the company in 2014, it had grown to 26 staff members serving 10,000 customers.

Cressman was honored by the Philadelphia Business Journal during an awards ceremony on Feb. 23 at the Union League in Philadelphia.

About Penn Community Bank: Penn Community Bank holds more than $1.8 billion in assets and employs more than 300 people at 23 bank branches and two administrative centers throughout Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As an independent, mutual financial institution, Penn Community Bank is not publicly traded and operates with its long-term mission in mind: to help businesses grow and prosper, to support individuals and families throughout their lifetimes, to strengthen the local economy, and to partner with local organizations to act as a catalyst for positive growth in every market it serves.

A continuing care retirement community is facing a civil rights discrimination lawsuit from a woman who claims that the community withdrew a job offer over her legal use of medical marijuana.

In a lawsuit filed April 20 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania District Court, Michelle Ustaszeski-Hutchinson accused Allentown, PA-based Phoebe-Devitt Homes, doing business as Phoebe Ministries, of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and state discrimination laws.

Ustaszeski-Hutchinson alleges that she received an employment offer to be a resident care assistant at Phoebe Richland in Richlandtown, PA, in January but that a month later, she was told in an email that the offer was rescinded based on information collected during a pre-employment screening.

Phoebe Ministries President and CEO Scott R. Stevenson told McKnight’s Senior Living that he is aware of the filing but that as a matter of policy cannot discuss an ongoing legal matter.

“At Phoebe Richland, we strive to maintain an accommodating and welcoming work environment that exceeds regulatory guidelines, including those related to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and we take great care to ensure our hiring practices are fair and thorough,” he said.

The complaint states that Ustaszeski-Hutchinson was legally using medical marijuana for post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder. She said that she showed her medical marijuana card during her medical examination and drug screening, which were part of the hiring process. She also said she sent a copy of the card to the company’s medical review officer.

Two weeks later, Ustaszeski-Hutchinson said, she received an email informing her that a conditional offer of employment had been rescinded based on the information collected during the pre-employment screening process.

The complaint maintains that Phoebe Ministries acted in a “bigoted, willful and malicious manner” in withdrawing its employment offer based on her perceived disability as an illegal drug user. As a consequence, the complaint states, Ustaszeski-Hutchinson was subjected to “humiliation, embarrassment and mental anguish.”

Ustaszeski-Hutchinson is seeking lost pay, benefits, lost future pay, compensatory damages for emotional pain and suffering, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Pre-employment testing challenges

Attorneys at a recent LeadingAge Leadership Summit discussed the challenges of pre-employment testing and potential hires’ use of medical marijuana.

They said that the long-term care industry expects to see more states legalizing — and more potential employees using — medical marijuana and cannabinoid, or CBD, products. Providers, however, were advised to proceed with caution because marijuana use remains illegal at the national level and some providers, particularly in the skilled nursing sector, rely heavily on federal funding.

The bottom line, according to the attorneys speaking at the summit, is that providers also must consider state law regarding marijuana legality, state limitations on aging service providers and insurance provider requirements.