PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA has envisioned a mixed-use project with housing and retail on a vacant lot near the Germantown stop on the Chestnut Hill East Regional Rail line.
The transit agency has put out a Request for Information from developers on how the 1.4-acre lot along Chelten Avenue can be improved.
“What we’re looking at is ground floor commercial space, upper floor apartments – and that would have a strong affordability component,” SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch told KYW Newsradio.
“What we’re trying to do is reach out to potential developers to get some feedback that will help inform us as we move forward.”
The Germantown project would be another example of transit-oriented development to generate revenue outside the farebox, by leasing SEPTA-owned property to developers. “We project that moving forward we could get about $10 million a year in additional revenue from these types of developments,” Busch said.
SEPTA is already pursuing similar transit-oriented development projects in Ambler, Conshohocken and Langhorne.
