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Granite Town Center, a planned "lifestyle center," was the subject of a public hearing at Monday's Manheim Township commissioners meeting.
Similar to, but just half the size of, the planned Crossings at Conestoga Creek just two miles to the west, the new development is being proposed by Massachusetts-based Berkshire Development.
James W. McDonald, Berkshire's vice president for development, said the industry is moving away from regional shopping centers and toward the lifestyle, or "Main Street," concept.
"It gives a little bit more of an intimate feeling," he said. "A hometown feeling."
The 300,000-square-foot Granite Town Center would be located between Granite Run Drive and Route 283. The center would incorporate about 72,000 square feet of existing buildings, including a bank at Granite Run Drive and Fruitville Pike, as well as some adjacent retail buildings, Planet Fitness and a child care center. Storage buildings on the site would be demolished.
The 40-acre site also would include 200,000 square feet of new construction, mostly small stores, restaurants and boutiques, as opposed to large chain stores, flanking a broad main street with trees and sidewalks. New construction would cost about $30 million, McDonald said.
There also would be pedestrian areas, walking trails and bike paths on the site.
Access would be along what is now Carerra Drive, which the township would be asked to vacate. That entranceway would intersect with the main street. Shops would line the street, and there would be on-street parking. Other parking lots would be behind most stores.Green spaces would be located at the northern end of the project, and to the west, where a footbridge would span Granite Run.
An old family cemetery on the site would be renovated and preserved.
The project would include $4 million in traffic improvements, with work recommended for Manheim Pike and Granite Run Drive, Fruitville Pike and Granite Run Drive and Manheim Pike and Route 283. Details of the proposed work will be discussed when the public hearing is continued.
The developer said it would spend $540,000 to purchase 36 transfer development rights, which would be used to preserve farmland in the township's agriculture district.
McDonald said he estimates construction would employ 300 workers and that, once completed, the stores would provide the equivalent of 450 full-time jobs.
The center also would provide the township and school district with an additional $490,000 in taxes, he said.
Commissioner Nancy Keebler asked McDonald if Berkshire had looked into the impact the planned 600,000-square-foot Crossings at Conestoga Creek, opposite Long's Park, would have on the proposed project.
McDonald said the two centers would not attract the same stores, that they would complement each other.
(179) (133) (67) (41) (13) (6) (5) (4) (3) (2)Asked why the Massachusetts firm, which has developed commercial properties up and down the East Coast, selected Lancaster County, McDonald said the area "is well known in the industry."
"Lancaster is attractive for all sorts of commercial development," McDonald said. "It's a strong community with an ongoing, positive image."
The Granite Run site, he said, is "exceptional" with "phenomenal visibility."
Granite Town Center is being proposed under Manheim Township's new Planned Commercial Development ordinance, which was designed to accommodate Crossings at Conestoga Creek.
McDonald said the ordinance is perfect for Granite Town Center because it allows Berkshire "the flexibility to build it as we feel it should be done."
The hearing was continued, but the date was not known at press time.
E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com
