ELKINS PARK, Pa. (WLVT) - After years of planning, developers look set to revitalize the sumptuous but vacant Elkins Estate in Cheltenham.
Landmark Developers of Jersey City, N.J. plans to close on the 42-acre property this spring and spend between $20 million and $25 million on renovations, according to township officials.“Believe me when I tell you, it is such an investment for this township, for this community, it’s a tremendous opportunity for everybody,” said Cheltenham Township Ward 3 Commissioner Brad Pransky.
The renovation plan for the estate’s seven buildings includes a hotel and events center with 110 hotel rooms, five guest cottages, two artist-in-residence apartments, an indoor and outdoor restaurant, a distillery, a wellness center and spa, and a helipad.Landmark Developers weren’t available for comment, but they have estimated the project will create 120 new jobs. They have also promised to honor the estate’s history by preserving six of the seven original buildings:
Elstowe Manor, Chelten House, a child's playhouse known as the "casino," the stables, a caretaker's cottage, and the "power plant" building.Built in 1898, those buildings, now known for their Gilded Age designs and opulence, were once the home of wealthy businessman William Elkins. The most iconic, Elstowe Manor, is among the remaining buildings designed by the famed Gilded Age architect
Horace Trumbauer. The buildings have been largely vacant since the last owners, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine de Ricci, left in 2009.
To further protect the historical structures, Landmark is adding a deed restriction to make sure no one can ever tear down the estate to build houses.
“That kind of preservation is a gift,” Pransky said.
Pransky has been working to help improve development in the township for nearly 20 years. Cheltenham in particular needs it, he said, because of its lack of commercial property. Dating back to its history as a wealthy commuters’ suburb, only 2 percent of the land was being used commercially in 2007.
“Businesses were in Philadelphia,” Pransky said. “Your home in the suburbs was in Cheltenham.”
Without much tax income from businesses, Cheltenham
consistently ranks among the higher tax burden municipalities for residents in the Philadelphia region. Allowing more development may help ease that tax burden, Pransky said.
“My hope is that by starting to fill the other bucket a little more, we’ll level it out so that as taxes go up, instead of ours being higher, they’re more in line,” he added.
The plan hinged on a TIF, or tax increment financing, which the Cheltenham Township School District Board passed Feb. 20. In a TIF, the developer pays 100 percent of property taxes each year, and the government municipality returns a percentage of that money to be spent on a particular project. In this case, Landmark will receive 100 percent of their taxes back in the first three years, then $100,000 for years four to 10, then a variable amount depending on how much tax they pay. After 20 years they will no longer receive any percentage back.
Pransky warned Cheltenham residents not to think of it as a tax break for the developers; the Elkins Estate is currently exempt from paying any property taxes, so any amount is an increase. Landmark has estimated they’ll pay more than $6 million in taxes to the school district, township and county over the next 20 years.
In addition to private ventures, the renovation plan includes public spaces such as gardens and walking trails.
“You can take a walk there, you can go into the lobby for coffee any time you want; you don’t have to be a guest at the hotel,” Pransky said. “They’re going to have a band shell, which they’re inviting both the township and the school district to use several times a year for concerts.”
The plan also includes a recording studio that students will be invited to use, as well as culinary kitchens that will offer classes.
Pransky said the main concern he has heard from locals is a potential rise in traffic and illegal parking. But traffic won’t be an issue, he said, because people arrive at and leave hotels throughout the day, so it won’t cause a “rush hour” like schools do. As for parking, the plan includes eco-friendly parking spaces for up to 500 cars.
Renovations are expected to take around 16 to 24 months, and will likely start with Elstowe Manor.
