In February and June 2024, MoreThanTheCurve.com reported on the proposed redevelopment of the Conshohocken Ridge Corporate Center along Ridge Pike and Colwell Lane in Conshohocken (Plymouth Township). Those articles reported on two presentations made by BET Investments before Plymouth Township’s council, during which they proposed redeveloping a portion of the office campus with ground-floor retail, including a grocery store (that sounded a lot like a Trader Joe’s or Sprouts), and apartments above.

During the February presentation, members of the council asked the developer about including more affordable units, and the developer committed to studying how to include a portion of the units at a reduced rate. In the June meeting, the developer proposed to allocate 10% of the units at a 15% discount and target those units for professions that serve the community, such as police officers, firefighters, other first responders, etc.

Since June, there hasn’t been any public movement towards seeking approval. BET has two options to seek approval. It could propose a text amendment to change the township’s zoning code to allow the retail and apartments to move forward. If a text amendment is proposed, the township’s council would decide whether to consider it for adoption. It could also seek zoning relief from the township’s zoning board. The main issue with the proposal is that the property is zoned commercial, and residential is not permitted.

On October 30th, The Philadelphia Business Journal interviewed Michael Markman, president of BET Investments, about the property. There isn’t any new information except that BET intends to seek approval for the project in 2025 and hopes to complete construction in 2028. From the article:

By redeveloping the site, Markman believes the remaining office space will become more popular. It’s a formula he has seen play out at the Promenade at Upper Dublin, which BET developed and debuted in 2020. That project has 402 apartments and 138,000 square feet of retail space.The firm also owns the adjacent Montgomery Corporate Center office building, which has seen increased leasing as a result.

For the Conshohocken redevelopment, Markman said he has had discussions with “best-in-class retailers” who may be interested in leasing space at the property. A rendering for the project shows a potential grocery store.

Plans have also been discussed with Plymouth Township, which will have to approve any residential development given the site is zoned for commercial. Markman doesn’t yet know how many office buildings would be torn down and how many apartment units would be built, given it partly depends on what the township will approve.

The best-case scenario for BET, Markman said, would be completing the approval process by the end of 2025 and beginning construction by early 2026. Construction is expected to take two years, meaning the project would be complete in 2028.

You can read the full article here.