Press Release Details

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2008

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Cheryl Allison
Main Line Life

Ardmore's Future in Lipkin's Hands - Board picks EBL&S Development as its choice to lead revitalization of the downtown

Ardmore, PA —In Lower Merion, Jan. 10, 2008, was a date for the history books for two reasons.First, the board of commissioners named its choice of a development team to design and construct the long-awaited new Ardmore Transit Center and lead the long-debated revitalization of the downtown business district.

That developer is EBL&S Development of Philadelphia, headed by Gladwyne resident Edward B. Lipkin. His team, including leading architectural, engineering and other consultants, captured the imagination of a majority of board members with its proposal to build a new transit center and hotel building with a glass-enclosed public atrium connecting the Lancaster Avenue business district with Suburban Square over the railroad tracks.

Second, the decision came as business and community groups, once bitterly at odds over an earlier township plan that raised the specter of eminent domain, stood together to announce a common vision for their town.
Leaders of the Save Ardmore Coalition, the Ardmore Initiative business authority, the Ardmore Business Association and First Friday Main Line took turns reading the statement.

Whether Lipkin's proposal, the most ambitious and comprehensive but also the most intensive of five that were submitted, can mesh with that vision remains to be seen. In their statement, and in the comments of some others, a concern was expressed that his ideas might simply be too much: too urban, too dense and too likely to get bogged down in the mechanics of construction over the rails.

But Lipkin, who said in an interview that he "could-n't be more thrilled" to win the project, said he wants, even during the next two months while he and the township work on a formal development agreement, to "revisit with community groups to take more input from them and try to allay some of their fears." "That's my plan: to try to grow this from the streets of Ardmore up, rather than from the aerial view down, " he said.

In a five-hour session, Lipkin's early outreach to community organizations drew a compelling endorsement from some. The Revs. James Pollard and Michael Brokenborough, representing Ardmore African-American churches, and Stephen Lindner, president of South Ardmore's Ardmore Progressive Civic Association, gave him their support. Brokenborough, a lifelong Ardmore resident, said he remembers when "The Pike" - Lancaster Avenue - was a place with "many accessible and affordable" stores, a movie theater and other attractions. Lipkin impressed him, Brokenborough said, with his commitment to providing housing choices for many ages and income levels.

Board Vice President Maryam Phillips, who represents South Ardmore, including much of the business district, also praised Lipkin's efforts to reach out. Phillips said a guide for her is the phrase "Start as you mean to go on." "It was expressed in the request for proposals that this is one of our best opportunities to bring in new workforce housing, " she said. "Those who put it in from the get-go get more respect from me." She acknowledged, however, that Lipkin's proposal is ambitious. The developer "has demonstrated the flexibility" to scale the project to community wishes, though, she said. "It's easier to make a larger project smaller than to do the reverse." She said her concern is, "If we start the bar too low we won't have done enough."

The clincher for other commissioners was the "substantial connection" between Lancaster Avenue and Suburban Square. For a long time "my view has been that the bisection of Ardmore by the train tracks was a problem that should be remedied. That to a large part informed my decision, " said board President Bruce Reed. We're going on 80 years of this having been an issue. One developer was willing to show an interest in surmounting that problem."
"Also, the quality of the group [Lipkin] has assembled is unparalleled, " Reed added. And he wasn't the only one to point to its strong financial backing. Lipkin has said he will ask for no township funding in what could be a $300 million project."

The selection was not initially unanimous. Three commissioners, Scott Zelov, Cheryl Gelber and Jenny Brown, said another developer and township resident, Carl Dranoff of Dranoff Properties, was their first choice. Zelov said he thought Dranoff had the proven record, the sensitivity to historic preservation and ability to attract financing to do the job. Gelber said Dranoff was "our best compromise" to "reflect the vision and priorities of the residential and business community." And Brown said their arguments were most persuasive. Commissioner Brian Gordon favored the plan put forward by Strategic Realty Investments of Wayne for architecture sympathetic to the scale and character of historic Ardmore. But other commissioners said the incompleteness of the firm's initial submission, coupled with its delay in providing requested financial information - it arrived that afternoon - disqualified it. Three other commissioners did not take part in the deliberations. George Manos and Lewis Gould recused themselves for professional conflicts. Mark Taylor also bowed out, saying that there had been "rumors" of a relationship between him and EBL&S. Taylor, a commercial real estate investment professional, said that, before he was appointed to the board in 2006, he was interested in the Ardmore discussions. Acquainted with Lipkin, he introduced him to the township, but had no business relationship with the developer. Still, because of "rumors circulating in e-mail chains, " to avoid any "perception ... of a conflict, " he would also recuse himself.

Technically, the board's decision was to authorize the start of negotiations with EBL&S. Setting a target date of March 19, Reed appointed a negotiating team including commissioners and township staff and real estate and financial consultants. The team held its first meeting Tuesday.
Even before the formal proposal process began, Lipkin was outspoken about his interest in the project. "A lot of times in the development process, you get fond of a project, but for the first time, I really felt an emotional connection, " he said. "This is my hometown." "This is a special opportunity, " he added. "We have a wonderful community here, with tremendous cultural and physical attributes. In Ardmore, we have an iconic historic village that needs some attention." "It requires a complicated type of revitalization, " he went on to say. "To some extent [the business district] is competing with Suburban Square. There's the interaction with the railroad tracks. There's an opportunity to create this connectivity, to foster sustainability, to encourage the use of mass transit."

In this country, or anywhere for that matter, Lipkin said, "There are very few Ardmores."

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