Last week was a big week for Conshohocken. AmerisourceBergen announced it was moving its headquarters to SORA West, a redevelopment site that encompasses the western unit block of Fayette Street all the way back to Robinson Alley and West Hector Street.

Within this redevelopment plan are at least a few restaurants of varying sizes. The old fire house is targeted to become a “gastro pub” If you look at the rendering of the office building (on the right in the image above), it looks like there is a coffee shop opening onto Fayette Street. The hotel is described as a “130-key hotel with significant restaurant space and a rooftop lounge.”

SORA West is not the only place with new restaurants planned or likely. Also last week we learned Nudy’s Cafe is signing a lease for the Light Parker building at the corner of West 1st Avenue and Fayette Street.

A few weeks ago we announced that El Limon is moving around the corner into the former Ted’s Pizza space. El Limon’s move will open its current space to a new restaurant.

A Greek restaurant that was announced last year is starting to work on its space at 4 East 1st Avenue.

So the numbers are as follows:

+ 2 Hotel (put a two due to the word “significant” being used to describe the presence of restaurants within hotel)
+ 1 New Office Building Coffee Shop
+ 1 Old Fire House
+ 1 Nudy’s Cafe
+ 1 Greek place
Even El Limon
+ 1 Whatever replaces El Limon at its current spot
– 1 Ted’s Pizza

That makes at least six new restaurants offering some level of food and beverage service within the new couple of years. All of the above are basically within a block of one another.

The hotel and the old fire house will have liquor licenses. Any other restaurants within the SORA West plan would need to seek approval to add a liquor license.

What about all the existing restaurants?

Obviously there are going to be more people now working and visiting lower Fayette Street or Conshohocken in general. The hotel will have 130 rooms, plus employees. AmerisourceBergen will employ 1,500 in its building, plus whatever number of visitors it gets a day.

A couple caveats. The new office building and the new parking garage are replacing two much smaller existing buildings. AmerisourceBergen also currently employees somewhere between 200 and 250 people on Conshohocken’s riverfront (who will be moving up to Fayette Street). So the true number of new people isn’t really as high as the numbers being touted.

Is somewhere north of 1,000 new people per day (at least on weekdays) enough to support the existing and new restaurants?

Let us know what you think in the comments.