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- - CONSHOHOCKEN, PA | Sora West | 185 FT | 12 FLOORS (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=208102)

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA | Sora West | 185 FT | 12 FLOORS

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Borough Council selected a proposal Wednesday night from a Lower Merion developer to build an 18-story, 200-room hotel at the intersection of Fayette and Elm streets, an eight-story parking garage to replace the existing three-story garage and a new, 16-story, 200,000-square-foot office building at the intersection of First Avenue and Fayette Street.

The proposal from Keystone Property Group (KPG) was selected in a 6-1 vote with Councilwoman Anita Barton voting against it. The Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority will also vote on the council selection before negotiations begin on a development contract with KPG.

http://www.timesherald.com/general-n...-hotel-offices

New design. Could include a third tower now

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Gateway project into Conshohocken gets fresh presentation

By Carl Rotenberg, The Times Herald
POSTED: 08/13/14, 2:46 PM EDT

CONSHOHOCKEN — The latest version of the “Conshohocken One” hotel and office building project for Fayette Street includes two, 200-foot tall hotel and office towers, an underground, 1,200-space parking garage and the option for a second office tower off West Elm Street.

The $200 million, Keystone Property Group (KPG) plan will be presented again to Conshohocken council Wednesday night, Aug. 20, accompanied by a 20-image portfolio of conceptual drawings, said Bill Glazer, the president of KPG of Lower Merion.

“The centerpiece of the project is the ground-level plaza between the buildings,” Glazer said. “The old Conshohocken Fire Company house will be re-purposed as a gastro-pub with an indoor-outdoor experience on the plaza. Conshohocken is a walkable town. What frames the experience is the hotel that we will build on the corner of Elm Street. The parking garage will have (designated) parking for the community.”

Glazer said that although no hotel chain has been picked to operate the hotel tower, it will have 175 to 200 hotel rooms and 15 to 17 stories above the parking garage, depending on the height of the lower entry floors.

...“This is the centerpiece of a wonderful, walkable downtown with the brand new waterfront growing up around us,” Glazer said.

“We would literally connect the Conshohocken downtown with the waterfront.”

http://www.timesherald.com/general-n...h-presentation

An article on this from Philadelphia Business Journal today:

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...roject-in.html

Conshohocken developer gets 6-month delay on $200M project

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...delay-cre.html

Now called Sora West

http://keystonepropertygroup.com/wp-...9/banner-1.jpg

Quote:

Plans for SORA include two office towers with over 500,000 square feet of office space, three parking garages that will house over 1,500 spaces and a 16-story luxury hotel. Additionally, this complex will include restaurants, retail space, and a plaza for public events.

The location offers unmatched potential to develop a signature destination that captures the heart and soul of the Conshohocken community. The vision for this project is one that solves problems and creates opportunities with the establishment of public green space around which office, hotel, retail and parking anchors are located.

As a premier destination, SORA will create a unique, memorable and contextually relevant place within the downtown district. The development integrates every building and activity in an urbane and compelling way, so the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

http://keystonepropertygroup.com/pen...-conshohocken/

From SSH Real Estate Report

Quote:

Brown & Brown, a provider of insurance and reinsurance products,
signed a lease on 16,846 SF at 125 E. Elm Street (Sora East).
Keystone Property Group is developing the building into a mixeduse
project that will eventually have 350,000 SF of office space, a
hotel, retail and a public plaza. Keystone also has its headquarters
in the building.

http://sshrealestate.com/pdf/2015EYRReport.pdf

Images of the Revised Proposal for Hotel, Office Building, Etc., on Lower Fayette Street

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Quote:

During last night’s meeting of Conshohocken’s Borough Council, representatives of Keystone Property Group made a presentation on the revised proposal to construct a hotel, new parking garage, new office building and a public square along Fayette Street between West Elm and West First.

This plan is not yet formally proposed, so it is not yet sought approval. According to the presentation, Keystone plans to seek a text amendment from Borough Council in the coming months. Securing a text amendment would allow the proposal to move forward without having to go through the Zoning Hearing Board.

This diagram shows how the plan has been scaled back since its original conception. The hotel use to be 200′ high and is now proposed at 170′ high. The office building at the corner of West 1st Avenue was scaled back from 250′ high to 150′.

One aspect of the original proposal that is no longer included is underground parking. The new plan has all parking in a new parking garage that would replace the one that is currently located on West 1st Avenue.

http://morethanthecurve.com/images-o...ayette-street/

That's pretty disappointing for Conshy for it to be so scaled back, but solid development overall

Economic Impact of the Proposed Redevelopment on Lower Fayette in Conshohocken

http://morethanthecurve.com/economic...-conshohocken/

Zoning approval granted for SORA West redevelopment in Conshohocken

Quote:

CONSHOHOCKEN >> Keystone Property Group, a leading real estate developer and investor of mixed-use and commercial properties, has announced it has received zoning approvals for SORA West, a dynamic, transit-oriented development in Conshohocken, which lies between Fayette, Elm and West 1st and Oak streets.

With the approvals in hand, Keystone is now poised to begin the development of a large-scale, multi-faceted development centered around a vibrant public plaza that will serve as a community event and gathering space for farmers’ markets, outdoor movies, yoga classes and other public uses.

The plaza will be flanked by a 250,000-square-foot office building with retail and dining; a 171-key hotel with significant restaurant space and a rooftop lounge; the existing 139-year-old Conshohocken Firehouse, which will be recreated as a brewpub with an indoor/outdoor experience; and a 950-space parking structure to support these facilities.

The project enjoys a convenient location that allows for easy travel to Philadelphia and all of Eastern Pennsylvania via the adjacent Conshohocken SEPTA train station. The property is also located in close proximity to Routes 76 and 476.

More info at: http://www.timesherald.com/general-n...n-conshohocken

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Keystone Property Group Gets Approval For Massive Conshohocken Project

Quote:

Keystone Property Group has received zoning approval for an ambitious project in Conshohocken.

Situated next to the Conshohocken SEPTA train station, SORA West would be a multifaceted development, including a 250K SF office building and a 171-room hotel surrounding a public plaza and gathering space. Both the office and hotel buildings have retail and dining components planned, and the historic Conshohocken Firehouse, which also would abut the plaza, would be renovated into a brewpub.

Keystone also plans for a 950-space parking structure to support the hotel and office buildings, with an additional 150 free public spaces somewhere in the project to support the surrounding downtown and the plaza.

Keystone Property Group, which is headquartered at SORA East across the street, is looking for an anchor tenant for the office component, as well as a partner in the hotel project. It also still requires additional development permits, and is mulling an additional residential component to the project.

https://www.bisnow.com/philadelphia/...approval-75037

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEFTA (Post 7826631)

Impressive project.

Agreed. Though without an anchor tenant and a hotel partner, is it going anywhere yet?

Developer makes inroads on $100M project in Conshohocken

Quote:

Keystone Property Group has finally received zoning approval to move ahead with a more than $100 million mixed-use project called Sora West.

Conshohocken’s commercial development has occurred in spurts that are defined by the projects themselves — from Four Falls to the Tower Bridge office towers and later the Millennium Center that turned the focus to the borough’s once industrial riverfront.

Three years after broaching an idea to develop a prime area along Fayette Street at its corner with West Elm Street, Keystone Property Group has finally received zoning approval to move ahead with a more than $100 million mixed-use project called Sora West that will define a key gateway to Conshohocken.

The lengthy time it took to get to this point — which involved revamping a slightly more ambitious plan and getting some new borough council members up to speed — didn’t surprise the developer. Also, Sora West is composed of multiple components that add an extra layer to the overall process.

“It’s a very complicated project,” said Rich Gottlieb, president of Keystone. “It’s more complicated than anything that has been done in Conshohocken in the last 17 years.”

While Conshohocken has seen transformative development over the last two decades, Sora West has several moving parts in a tight area bounded by Fayette, West Elm, West First Avenue and Robinson Alley. It’s a highly visible, busy intersection at the foot of the Fayette Street Bridge.

The project, which will be done in two phases, involves: redeveloping a historic firehouse dating back to 1874 into brew pub; eventually tearing down two office buildings and constructing two new office structures. One will total 245,000 square feet of which 11,800 square feet will be dedicated to restaurant space and 1,900 square feet will be retail. The other office building will total 223,000 square feet and have 3,500 square feet of retail space; a 171-room hotel that will have 13,700 square feet of restaurant and retail space on an undeveloped parcel at the corner of Fayette and Elm; and building an eight-level parking garage with nearly 1,000 spaces.

The developer is also exploring whether a multifamily component should be part of the project. The project will include an undeveloped portion that will be a public gathering area and provide space for outdoor dining as well.

“This is a classic mixed-use project,” said Michael Brookshier, who is vice president of development at Keystone.

Its multiple components are what help make Sora West fit into what is an already dense urban environment, Brookshier said. While Sora West seeks to become a destination, it could also be a catalyst for additional development activity in areas where there is none.

Though it took three years to get it from concept to approval, Sora West is still going to take more time before getting out of the ground. The developer needs to get preliminary and final land development approvals. In the meantime, Keystone is talking with interested hotel operators and faces a lot of competition when it comes to new office buildings in Conshohocken. A handful of other developers also have shovel-ready office projects of varying sizes that are in need of tenants before they move ahead.

Our team shot drone cinematography of the SORA West property from all angles. It's a completely different perspective.

Video Link