The front of the Steeple View project on Wednesday evening.
Credit: Tom Sofield/NewtownPANow.com
Construction on the Steeple View mixed-use development in the heart of Newtown Borough continues to move forward, according to its developer.
Allan Smith, the developer, told Newtown Borough Council Wednesday evening that work on the project has come to a slow down due to an issue with the installation of steel studs. He said a miscommunication between engineers may cause work on Phase I of the project to slow down for the next 30 days.
“It’s over my head,” Smith said of the slow down.
Contractors have been working recently to pour concrete on the second floor of the building that is going up currently, according to the developer.
The council is set to vote at their August 15 meeting on preliminary plans for Phase II of the Steeple View development.
The plans for Phase II have been before the Newtown Borough Planning Commission twice in recent months. Commission Chairman Mark Craig said the group has sent a letter to town officials to update them on their meetings about the project and also offer some points of interest.
Smith and his attorney, Tim Duffy, said Phase II of the project includes more mixed-use buildings, a 500-car parking garage and public spaces, including a piazza. The second phase includes the demolition of 10 Centre Avenue, the building that houses the Fine Wine and Good Spirits store and Newtown Beer.
Several residential buildings for Phase II of the project have had their plans altered after soil samples uncovered that the underground parking areas for residents cannot be buried fully in the ground due to the water table level. Duffy said the front of the five-story (four stories residential) buildings would still fit under the borough’s zoning which states new buildings must be no taller than 46-feet-high when measured from the front. He added that the buildings would be slightly shorter than the Newtown Hardware House.
Craig said the planning commission talked with Smith about keeping 23 on-grade parking spaces and 86-first floor parking garage spaces under the borough’s domain. The conversation stems from a borough ordinance about the regulation of parking.
On the subject of retail tenants in the under construction Phase I portion of the project, Smith said the Fine Wine and Good Spirits store is expected to occupy the majority of the first-floor of the building on South State Street, which is about a 12,000-square-foot space. He said state officials will be able to finalize their lease at Steeple View once their drafts and drawings of the new store are completed.
“We don’t even have a sign up and it’s going nicely,” Smith told NewtownPANow.com when asked after the meeting about sales of the luxury condominiums at the complex.
