Development. We all know what that means. A family sells the farm, and shiny new houses and shops spring up on the old cornfields.
That picture, though, is incomplete. Today’s developers are also looking inward, giving new life to existing buildings and blocks in the tight confines of cities and boroughs. Whether it’s in York, Lititz, or Camp Hill, major development is injecting old neighborhoods with new purpose.
Photo courtesy Venture Lititz
New Life in Lititz
The community of Lititz “has so much going for it.”
“It has a lot of built-in business generators, with companies based in the community,” says Michael J. O’Brien, president of Oak Tree Development Group (oaktreedg.com). “It has a community spirit. It’s got a wonderful downtown. It’s got a lot of shops. It’s a great place to visit, and to work in, and to live in.”
That vibe convinced the Lancaster-based developer to tackle the challenge of redeveloping the iconic Wilbur Chocolate plant, idle since 2016. By early summer 2019, work will be largely completed on remaking the building into the 74-room Wilbur Hotel, operated under the Hilton Tapestry Collection; a restaurant and bar; shops; and condos. New construction will create apartments, plus condos for residents aged 55-plus.
The mix complements existing Lititz offerings, adding only 4,000 square feet of boutique retail and a casual sit-down bistro, says O’Brien. The residential-unit count was “just enough to address some of the pent-up demand.”
“It’s going to be a nice place to live and shop,” he says.
Like all factories dating to the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Wilbur building was “built substantially,” making it suitable for reuse. Redesign exposes the building’s “good bones,” showcasing brick walls, wood beams, and clear heights. The new addition avoids the kind of exact-match attempts that so rarely succeed while incorporating esthetically complementary touches.
“All of these things work well when you’re trying to create dramatic spaces that have real character,” O’Brien says. “All of that is part of the fabric of the space.”
Pedestrians will stroll wider sidewalks and more easily cross Broad Street.
“That’s great about Lititz,” says O’Brien. “It is walkable. There are meaningful connections from our project to most anywhere.”
Every development project requires case-by-case scrutiny of costs when deciding whether to build new or redevelop, he added. “In any area where people do not want to see farmland used up, to the extent that we can reuse existing resources in a marketplace, that is good for everybody.”
Sustainable Collaboration Benefits Consumers and the Bay
Another unique project in the Lancaster area was recently added to Oak Tree Development Group’s redevelopment toolbox. The Brubaker Run floodplain restoration wasn’t their idea, O’Brien says, but “we’re so happy we’ve done it.”
Suggested by an East Hempfield Township supervisor, the project incorporated a wetlands restoration into the new Lime Spring Square retail-office-residential development. Forgoing retention basins and clean-water facilities, the project revived the site’s natural, and highly effective, water-filtering capabilities. The township wins by gaining EPA credits. The Chesapeake Bay loses—in a good way—phosphorous and nitrates streaming in from the watershed.
O’Brien marveled at the project’s removal of 50,000 cubic yards of “legacy soil,” deposited from upstream over the decades. The widened channel created room for “what had been originally intended by Mother Nature to happen and put back the natural filtering that happens in these streambeds.”
A collaborative approach benefits any project, O’Brien says. “We try to build sustainable, community-minded projects that have real community benefit at the end of the day.”
Leaving a Legacy
In Lititz, that philosophy is evident in Oak Tree’s negotiations with Cargill, owner of the Wilbur brand, to earn the right to use the Wilbur name for the hotel and restore the “Wilbur Chocolate Co.” sign painted along the building. O’Brien, whose Massachusetts relatives always insist that he bring Wilbur Buds, says the intention was to spotlight a proud legacy.
“There’s almost 100 years of operation in that building that is representative of people generationally that have worked in the plant,” he says. “Grandparents, and then parents, and then sons and daughters all worked at the plant. We wanted to make sure we were respectful of that and were able to reflect that in our project. This building has a deep history in the community, and we didn’t want to erase that with a new project. We want to celebrate it.”
Neighbors You Can Trust
Converting a rundown Victorian house into a showcase headquarters heightened the profile of Smith Land & Improvement Corporation (smithlandusa.com). Situated near a prominent corner in Camp Hill Borough, the renovated office gave the region a new look at Smith Land—and vice versa.
Just across the street, popular businesses, almost entirely women-owned, operated from a mishmash of buildings. Parking was tight. One building sat almost directly on the intersection. The buildings had “gone into disrepair,” says Smith Land president and CEO Richard E. Jordan III.
“We look out the front window at the property across the street,” says Jordan. “It was a little tired.”
So in December 2017, Smith Land bought the two parcels constituting the 1800 block of Market Street. Demolition begins, it’s hoped, by summer 2018, as the old structures give way to a two-building retail-office center that will unify the space and its occupants into a community-oriented business center.
“Developers sometimes get a bad rap, and rightfully so, especially if they come from out of town,” says Jordan, whose father, Richard E. Jordan II, remained as chairman of the board when Jordan III became president and CEO in January 2018. “They’re in it for the money. Businesspeople have to make a profit, but we have offices across the street. We’re not going to run anywhere.”
Plus, he adds, all the stakeholders—tenants, municipal officials, and the public—know that he lives in the borough. “That lends some credibility to what we’re doing,” he says.
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Krista Hoffman, retail specialist at Little Black Dress.
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Underneath It All owner Kim Over.
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One Good Woman co-owners Michelle Koch (left) and Mechelle Webster (right).
Old Faves in a New Space
As planned, Phase I will be the new home to existing stalwarts of Camp Hill’s business scene—One Good Woman, the specialty coffee, tea, fine food, and gift shop; Little Black Dress, the fashion boutique; BodyLogic massage therapy; Underneath It All lingerie boutique; and home décor store Mitrani. With careful planning, the businesses will retain their old spaces—and parking—for the holiday shopping season, before moving into their new digs in early 2019.
And don’t worry, fans of Just Plain Yoga. The studios will move to specially designed space in the nearby West Shore Plaza, so all your parking worries are over.
In Phase II, which is already attracting interest, Jordan hopes for a mix of tenants who will enhance Camp Hill’s retail scene—boutique fitness, perhaps, and a restaurant.
Tenants will continue to be primarily local.
“This is a community retail center,” says Jordan. “It’s going to be a place for local businesses. The space will have affordable market rates and places where local businesses can thrive.”
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Photo by Donovan Roberts Witmer
Rick Jordan, Smith Land president and CEO.
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Photo by Donovan Roberts Witmer
Macris Chocolates and Penn State Creamery ice cream served there satisfy any sweet tooth.
Tried and True
It’s a perspective that Smith Land knows well. As owner of the busy West Shore Plaza in Lemoyne, Smith Land has cultivated a healthy mix of 14 local businesses among 22 tenants. Select a bottle of wine, pick up prescriptions, find craft supplies for that school project, buy a new hammer, and restock the dog food—and while you’re at it, maybe adopt a kitten. Several successful women-owned businesses include K Novinger Jewelry Design and Macris Chocolates, which have cultivated devoted followings.
“It’s a great neighborhood shopping center,” says Jordan. “You can go there and get everything you need.”
As with West Shore Plaza, Smith Land hopes to turn its new asset into a community driver. A “Wicked Spooky Party” at West Shore Plaza in October 2017 attracted hundreds of people, including costumed children trick-or-treating among businesses in a safe, secure setting. For such events, including a recent health fair, businesses jump in to offer specials and fun activities.
Jordan expects that same spirit of community to infuse the new Camp Hill project.
“We’re trying to do the right thing,” he says. “We’re going to do the right thing. If you have to cut corners, it’s not worth doing. We are going to do something that we’re proud of.”
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Photo courtesy Site Design Concepts, Inc
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Finding Purpose in Repurpose
In the 1970s, downtown department stores went the way of the Ford Falcon, and small retail followed, leaving behind hollow shells.
Cities need those cores today, says Dylan Bauer, president of development for Royal Square Development & Construction (rsdcinc.com). That’s why RSDC brought York’s Royal Square back to life and is now leading the Market Street Revitalization Project, as one of several developers working on transforming the block where old-time shoppers rushed home with their presents.
“Now, when you come downtown, it’s nearly occupied, compared to nearly vacant,” says Bauer.
The city and Downtown Inc. identified the first block of West Market Street as a key piece of York’s revitalization puzzle. The twist here was three “very large white elephant buildings” demanding significant investments, says Joshua Hankey, RSDC president and CEO.
The springboard for visualizing Market Street’s redevelopment was a York County Community Foundation study on repurposing the buildings. Public input was solicited, because “sometimes they have better ideas than us,” says Hankey. More than $14 million was raised for the project, including New Markets Tax Credits secured through Community First Fund and historic tax credits.
All stakeholders agreed that a mix of retail and residential was the key to success.
“To have retail that is successful, we have to have people living downtown and walking to restaurants and retail stores on a regular basis, and vice versa,” says Hankey. “For people wanting to live downtown, we have to have the retail component.”
Photo by Paul Martin
Caring About Community
“We both live downtown,” adds Bauer. “We both walk to work. We probably send ourselves notes a dozen times a day about streetlights that need to be fixed, or asking why this landlord is letting the tenants put the trash out two days before the trash gets picked. It’s not just us. There are dozens doing the same thing. It could be because we care about the community that makes this job easy. We’re passionate about what we do.”
The plan builds on RSDC’s strengths of “taking an old building and bringing it back to life,” said Hankey. Major elements include demolishing part of the Woolworth’s building and adding two floors, while also rehabbing the former Police Heritage Museum, Zakie’s, and Weinbrom Jewelers buildings.
The result: About 36 apartments and 11 retail spaces. The stylish apartments rented quickly, to everyone from a restaurant server to a hospital physician, plus a few empty-nesters. Through the New Markets Tax Credits, about 20 percent are offered at reduced rent for low-income tenants.
The eclectic retail lineup includes a vintage candy shop, a hair cuttery, a makeup salon, the Fig & Barrel Pub, women’s fashion, and a fast-casual Isaac’s anchoring the corner of West Market and Beaver streets. At the BYOB TimeLine Arcade, entire families can bang away on Skeeball, Pac-Man, and all their favorite vintage games. Hankey and Bauer weren’t ready to announce the tenant secured for the Woolworth’s building, but they promised that a partnership of community leaders is offering a service not currently available downtown.
Focusing on urban redevelopment creates “low entry barriers” for local, first-time businesses, says Bauer. It’s a sort of “entrepreneurial incubation” approach that attracts a clientele of city dwellers and regional residents eager for “something authentic.”
“York has a great art scene, second to none in the area,” he says. “Our entertainment scene is growing. Our bar and drink scene is strong. It’s allowing those businesses an opportunity to get started and seeing them grow. It seems whenever a business gets started, they outgrow their space in two years, and we try to be there to help them.”
