Bucks County Looking To Reimagine Almshouse Site In Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA - The Bucks County Planning Commission is in the very early stages of reimagining the former Neshaminy Manor property at Route 611 and Almshouse roads.

At the January meeting of the Doylestown Township Board of Supervisors, Evan Stone, the executive director of the Bucks County Planning Commission, announced that the county is in the process of putting out a Request For Innovation (RFI) for the site.

?The site is underutilized and offers potential opportunity for redevelopment for the county,? Stone told the supervisors. ?But rather than put up a sign at the corner and say it?s for sale, the county is looking to partner with and attract potential developers who bring innovation, vision and a successful track record for redevelopment for the site.

?We are looking to do something different,? said Stone. ?We?re looking to transcend your typical land development - paving, buildings, etc. We want to do something better. We think we can. And naturally, whatever we do, particularly now with a new sustainability director on board, we want to do something that is triple bottom line focused - financial, environmental and social.?

Through the RFI process, Stone said the county will be looking for an inclusive team for the project.

?It?s not just going to be an engineer and an architect. We?re looking for a team that brings in an academic partner, for instance. That might mean planning students, landscape architecture students, architect students. We?re looking for a team that truly brings a new, fresh approach to have this site reimagined - to make it something different and includes regenerative design principles, sustainability, etc.?

The 19 acre site is bordered by Almshouse Road and Route 611 and includes the former Neshaminy Manor. The site is next to Grundy Hall, which is located on a separate parcel.

?One thing we do know is that facility (Grundy Hall) will need an access, whether it?s a new access on 611 or whether it continues to take access from the Almshouse site. That is something that will get worked out way down the road through the development process,? said Stone.

The former Neshaminy Manor. (photo by Jeff Werner)

The site is served by SEPTA's Route 55 bus, it?s three miles from the Doylestown Train Station, it has access to the DART bus system and to the Doylestown Plaza and the Barn Plaza and it?s about eight miles from the Willow Grove interchange with the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

?From a geographical standpoint we believe it has a lot of advantages to a potential developer and a development team,? said Stone. ?The vision that we see for the site is a blend of attainable residential, commercial, institutional and civic uses interwoven within a walkable campus that encourages multigenerational job engagement and well being around unique and inviting public spaces

?We?re looking to transcend. We don?t envision another retail center with fields of parking and a strip center. We want to do something different,? he said.

The objectives, he said, are to embrace the site?s history and local significance in the history of Bucks County.

?For instance, anything we do will preserve the old Almshouse and the old Bucks County veterans home, retention of locally historic buildings, protection of natural and cultural resources, inclusion of civic spaces that foster social interaction, a walkable community campus, incorporation of renewable energy sources, and a solution that can be time tested and viable long term,? said Stone. ?We?re all well aware of the changing market we?re in terms of retail and other services that we see.?

The Almshouse. (photo by Jeff Werner)

In addition to considering the ?by right? uses permitted under the institutional district zoning, Stone said he?d like the team to think about other potential uses including retail, commercial and residential.

?And when we talk about residential we?re talking about attainable, multigenerational, market rate, and potentially even veterans housing as part of a mix of residential on the site. We?re not talking about low income. We?re talking about attainable workforce housing,? he said.

Also imagined, he said, could be a hotel, conference center, dining establishments, entertainment, and light manufacturing, such as assembly, biomedical technologies and others. ?We?re looking for the team to come to us with ideas,? he said.

?The next steps will be for us to complete and finalize the RFI document and then to go out and seek those potential development teams,? said Stone.

?Good luck,? said Barbara Lyons, chair of the board of supervisors, after listening to the presentation. ?Let?s see what you come up with. I just caution the response is going to be, ?It?s too much with such a little space.? It?s already a very congested area with residents behind, terrible traffic patterns now. Obviously traffic and design are way down the road, but I can understand how there can be a huge human cry about building up that property in ways that you?re suggesting.?