New deal for 311 building sale
Amended agreement no longer includes sale of adjacent structure
LANSDALE >> A new contract has been approved between Lansdale Borough and the developer seeking to buy the former arts center at 311 West Main Street.
Borough council voted Wednesday to approve a new agreement with MEH Investments, the Flourtown-based developer interested in redeveloping the center — and for now, just that building.
“Our agreement with MEH that was originally settled with borough council, I guess about two months ago at this point, had conditions related to development of the property next door,” said borough solicitor Sean Kilkenny.
“When they went ahead and started to go through their due diligence period, they realized that, financially, that would not be viable,” Kilkenny said,
The story of 311 is a lengthy one, as the former Masonic tem-
ple was built in the 1910s and purchased by the borough in 2004 with the goal of converting it into an arts center and downtown destination. The center was closed in early 2010, and a borough task force spent much of 2012 and ‘13 developing plans to revamp and revive the building as an arts center, before council voted in late 2014 to sell the building.
After the borough hired a real estate agent in 2015 to market the property, and received no results on a first round of public bidding, council voted in June to accept the highest bid, for $310,000 from MEH — the investment group behind the Stove and Tap restaurant at Main and Wood Streets — which proposed a mix of commercial uses on the lower floors and residential apartments above.
That proposal originally would have redeveloped 311 together with 315 W. Main St., a three-story office building most recently operated as the Lansdale Music Factory and previously home to Lansdale’s PEAK Center from the late 1980s to 2012.
“The original plan to include 315 is currently not possible due to costs associated with the project,” said Brian Halligan, owner and managing partner of MEH.
“We are going to continue with the 311 sale, and will still try to incorporate 315 at some point, but as of now it is not part of the plan,” he said, and added that plans for 311 are still being finalized.
A last-minute addition to council’s agenda Wednesday night, the new agreement now reflects that the purchase of 311 from the borough is not contingent on MEH purchasing 315 and developing both.
“When they submitted their proposal to us, that (neighboring property) was part of it. We went ahead and agreed to waive that provision, and that’s what’s reflected in this amendment,” Kilkenny said.
Council President Denton Burnell said including 315 in the original proposal “certainly sweetened the deal,” and made that offer more attractive, but he and council would still support plans for reviving just the one building instead of both.
“I think we all still feel strongly that we believe in their plan for 311. It just won’t include that next door property,” he said.