Multi-Story Apartment Building Proposed At Corners At Newtown Place

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Another upscale multi-story apartment building is in the works in Newtown Township.

BT Newtown Corners LP has filed a request with the township for a zoning amendment to build a three-story, 120-unit multi-family apartment building on part of the site now occupied by The Corners at Newtown Place at the intersection of Sycamore Street and Richboro Road.

The development site includes 25,000 square feet of existing office and retail space, much of which would be demolished to make way for the project.

The site, however, does not include the strip center housing Jake's Eatery, Domino's Pizza, and the Steak and Hoagie Factory on Richboro Road. The project also does not include the 7-11 convenience store, all of which would remain.

This shows the development site for the proposed apartment building on either side of Cambridge Lane between Sycamore Street and Richboro Road. The 7-11 is in the upper right quadrant, not included in the development site. Not included is a strip center where Jake's Eatery is located.

This shows the proposed layout of the development. To orient yourself, the lower left corner is the location of the 7-11 convenience store, which is not part of the project.

Plans for the project show a three-story building containing 120 mid-rise apartments surrounding a below-ground and above-ground parking area and a walkable oriented streetscape. The single-family apartments would have direct access to a common hall and a private, outdoor pool and recreation area.

The project is being proposed by BET Investments, a real estate management and development company owned by Bruce Toll, the co-founder of Toll Brothers, the nation's leading developer of luxury homes.

The attorneys for BET Investments have filed a text amendment to the Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance to allow for the multi-story apartment complex to be built within the TC Town Commercial District.

According to the draft ordinance submitted by BET Investments, the TC district is the “most appropriate district … with the inclusion of a new use, Use B-11, Parking Core Apartment Building.”

A Parking Core Apartment Building, as defined by the draft ordinance, is a building where individual apartments surround a central parking garage and feature a walkable oriented streetscape in keeping with a traditional village. Each apartment unit would have direct access to the outside or to a common hall and each unit is designed for and occupied by a single family.

The multi-story apartment complex is the latest being proposed in the township.

The township is currently considering another plan for a four-story, 245-unit apartment building proposed by KRE for a vacant parcel on Lower Silver Lake Road just down the road from the recently approved new Wawa convenience store and gas station.

In that case, KRE has filed a substantive validity challenge with the township to allow the building to be built in the township's office-research zone.

This rendering by Bernardon shows a water feature at the proposed complex.

Interior and exterior renderings by Bernardon of the proposed apartment complex at Sycamore Street and Richboro Road.