Hanover Street warehouse conversion project gets conditional OK from Pottstown council

POTTSTOWN — With a parking variance secured, the developers who want to convert a vacant warehouse off North Hanover Street into market-rate apartments cleared another hurdle when the borough council unanimously approved a conditional use permit for the project.

Judah Angster, CEO of Dwight City Group appeared before the Pottstown Borough Council last month seeking support for a zoning variance that would allow his company to proceed with the project providing 146 parking spaces for tenants rather than the 170 the ordinance requires. The ordinance calls for two spots per dwelling,

Included in that total of 146 spaces are 17 on-street parking spaces.

Angster told the council all but one of the 85 market-rate apartments his company intends to build will be one-bedroom apartments. Council provided Angster with a letter of support which he took to the zoning hearing board on March 19 where the company received the variance it was seeking.

The same zoning allows for the conversion of the warehouse located at 276-284 N. Hanover St. after the council holds a conditional-use hearing and gives its permission. During the conditional-use hearing Monday, attorney Mike Murray told the council the two-story building on the site will be demolished to make space for more parking.

Additionally, access to the project will be off Hanover Street and North Penn Street and vehicles will exit out Third Street onto North Charlotte Street. A traffic study showed the apartments would generate too few cars to require a traffic light at Third and Charlotte.

PennDOT would require 100 additional vehicles to justify a traffic light and the conversion project is projected to add fewer than 50 vehicles out onto North Charlotte, said traffic engineer John Caruolo.

The company, which specializes in revitalizing existing buildings, including old warehouses, envisions the site, which it calls Hanover Street Mill, being used for one-bedroom apartments between 800 and 1,300 square feet.

The project came to a halt in June almost as soon as it began when the owner of the property declined to grant the company an extension on the agreement of sale in order to obtain the parking variance. That has since changed, Angster told the council last month.

The company has converted many buildings similar to this one in Pottstown, which was built in the 1920s and they are 95 percent occupied, Angster said. The idea is to take advantage of under-utilized or vacant older buildings in walkable communities and turn them into unique market-rate apartments.

Council was told that before signing a lease, prospective tenants must demonstrate an annual household income of between $76,000 to $85,000 to be considered financially capable of paying the rent. (Pottstown’s median household income is $57,722.) In addition to the boost the project would give to the borough’s property tax revenue, the tenants in that salary range “represent a pool of $8 million to $10 million for your earned income taxes,” said Angster.

The project now moves on in the land development process to the planning commission. After finishing that, it must return to the council for final approval before construction can begin.