by Winnie Hsiu
October 17, 2009 8:38 AM
According to an October 17 posting of the timesherald.com (an online newspapers covering Norristown and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania), the current property owners of a vacant K-Mart in the Eagleville Plaza on Ridge Pike would like to convert it into a self-storage facility. (This particular K-Mart closed in early 2009 as part of a corporate consolidation to eliminate under-performing stores.)
Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for Kimco Realty (Lutherville, Maryland-based company), Geoffrey Glazer asked the Board of Supervisors on Thursday, October 15, to schedule a public hearing for a text amendment to the Ridge Pike Business District (RPBD) zoning ordinance to allow self-storage facilities.
Following detailed questions regarding the proposal, the board unanimously agreed to advertise and schedule the public hearing.
"That K-Mart was built more than 40 years ago. We could have waited to see if the retail market would turn around, but we decided to be more proactive," Glazer said. "We want to put a climate-controlled, mini-storage facility there now."
Glazer stated that the plan called for using 70,000 square feet of the 102,000-square-foot building for the storage facility, which would leave 32,000 square feet for additional retail stores. Office hours would be 8Am-6PM; with card entry up to 9 or 10PM. Kimco Realty is currently interviewing management companies for the proposed facility.
Glazer said that over the years, big-box retail stores had migrated to highway interchanges, where they could attract customers from a 15-20-mile radius. Additionally, the self-storage facility would only require 10-20 parking spaces, allowing the parking lot could to be developed into a pad-site for a medical office building or restaurant use.
In other business, the board approved a conditional use to allow 4 apartments in the upper floors of a commercial building on West Ridge Pike. The apartments in the second and third floor will allow the first floor and a portion of the basement to continue being used for office space.