BET Investments has proposed redeveloping the Spring House Corporate Center at the corner of Norristown Road and the Route 309 ramp. They would like to replace a mostly vacant office building with an apartment building and add a small amount of retail by Norristown Road. A second fully leased office building would remain. Township zoning regulations do not currently allow housing, retail, or restaurants on this property. The Lower Gwynedd Board of Supervisors must decide whether to amend the zoning ordinance to allow those property uses before the redevelopment could move forward to the land development and building permit processes.
321-323 Norristown Road
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION AND OPEN HOUSE, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 4PM – 7 PM
To discuss the proposed redevelopment in greater detail, a community conversation and open house will be held on Thursday, January 30th from 4PM-7PM at the Spring House Corporate Center, 321 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd, PA 19002. Elected officials, planners, engineers, police, and fire officials, along with the developer, will be available to answer questions from the community.
- The community conversation will be an open house format-you can drop by for a few minutes or stay as long as you like between the hours of 4-7pm
- Staff, consultants, elected officials, and emergency responders will be on hand at various tables to listen to you and provide information as you walk through
- The public will have a chance to walk through the existing building and grounds, and see where the proposed buildings may be located.
- Feel free to ask questions, provide input and gather information
The remainder of this page presents information about the proposed redevelopment. This information will be available at the community conversation.
Ordinance and Land Development Process
The threshold question is whether the Board of Supervisors should amend the Lower Gwynedd Township Zoning Ordinance and rezone the property to allow apartments, retail and restaurants. A draft ordinance and map amendment was most recently discussed at a Lower Gwynedd Planning Commission meeting in November 2024 . New construction is very expensive and therefore the rent in the proposed 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments would also be quite expensive.
- 146 one-bedroom apartments, average rent: $2,500 / month.
- 219 two-bedroom apartments, average rent: $3,000 / month.
To help make some units a little more affordable, the draft ordinance also includes a provision that would require at least 10% of the units to be affordable for a household earning up to 100% of median household income in Montgomery County (about $80,000-100,000 per year, depending on the size of the apartment).
The Zoning Ordinance amendment process is summarized in the following infographic:
If the Supervisors approve the zoning amendment, the applicant would go through the Township’s land development and building permit processes. It is summarized here:
BET’s Vision for Redevelopment of Spring House Corporate Center
On August 27th, 2024, Michael Markman of BET Investments presented renderings of what the redeveloped site could look like as a mix of apartments and retail.
The presentation included information from a financial impact study conducted by David C. Babbitt & Associates. The summary is as follows:
Lower Gwynedd Comprehensive Plan
It is important to understand that property owners, not Township officials, decide if and when to sell or develop their properties. The Township cannot prohibit a property owner from selling, or require them to sell their property at a discount so that the buyer can afford to develop less of it. But Lower Gwynedd Township does have tools like the Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive plan to help guide and shape where different types of homes and businesses are located. The Comprehensive Plan is being revised now, and the latest information can be found HERE.
The DRAFT map of potential future land uses shows that the mixed-use development that is proposed for Norristown Road is only planned for three areas of the Township: this portion of Norristown Road, the Bethlehem Pike commercial corridor, and Ambler Yards. The vast majority of the Township would remain as single-family residences.
DRAFT Future Land Use Plan