Westfield 41: A suburban appeal

Westfield 41 is so called because that is the percentage of the Limerick Township site on which developer Longview Property Group of Berwyn has planted 160 garden-style apartments and 32 rental townhouses.

The remaining larger portion of the 37-acre location fronting Lewis Road just north of the Route 422 Expressway interchange is open space, including a scenic path that will someday be part of the Limerick Township Trail System.

Longview, which has a long track record building shopping centers - Lansdowne Center, Limerick Square and Thorndale Center, among them - "understands that there is a shortage of multifamily" in this area, said Jessica Scully, president of Scully Co. of Jenkintown, which is managing Westfield 41.

To meet the demand, Longview has more than a dozen multifamily projects in various stages of development, according to the company's website.

Westfield 41's focus on open space isn't out of character for Longview, Scully said, since William Andersen, its founder and president, owns Charlestown Farm, the co-op farm near Phoenixville.

In fact, residents of Westfield 41 will get the opportunity to have fresh produce delivered to them, Scully said.

After 18 months of construction, Westfield 41 is nearly complete, she said; leasing is well underway, with people starting to move in.

The garden apartments are one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 787 to 1,182 square feet with open floor plans, Scully said. Attached and detached garages are available, she said.

Monthly rents start at $1,350 for a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment and $1,650 for a two-bedroom, two-bath flat.

The rental townhouses, all 1,590 square feet with three bedrooms and 21/2 baths, start at $2,100 to $2,200. The townhouses have attached garages and driveways, Scully said.

As the for-sale real estate market continues to recover very slowly and single-family home construction in the region lags, the multifamily rental assembly line continues full tilt, local observers say.

Though the focus continues to be on Center City, the Pennsylvania suburban market is humming loudly.

"There are people [younger singles and families and empty nesters] that don't want the concrete jungle," said Scully. Her company's 180-unit Avenir at 15th and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia targets renters who are millennials, 75 percent of whom work in the educational and medical fields in or near the central business district.

Westfield 41 tenants are looking for "something new" with modern conveniences - renters "who don't want to live in an area that is overpopulated," she said.

The Route 422 corridor, whose completion accelerated the region's westward movement, is not as out of the way as city dwellers imagine, either.

Westfield 41 is in Royersford, whose residents see it as having the same kind of potential as Phoenixville farther down the Schuylkill.

Collegeville, too, is nearby, and King of Prussia and Valley Forge are not all that far away.

There are also three golf courses in the area, and the walking trail can be used for bikes. In fact, a bike station is in Westfield 41's future, Scully said.

While the trend in apartments in the city is for the smaller units and larger common spaces for socializing that characterize the target millennial audience sought by most developers, Westfield 41 offers larger apartments and different venues for get-togethers, Scully said - a "fire-pit lounge" in the saltwater-pool area, for example.

Like many modern multifamily complexes, Westfield 41 has a fitness center in an "oversized clubhouse," as Scully Co. regional property manager Kristen McLaughlin described it, with meeting rooms and a fireplace bar.

Although it is often assumed that suburban residents live there to avoid crowds and value their personal space, "people enjoy being social," McLaughlin said.

"In Center City, it is a cybercafe; in the suburbs, the pool and firepit," she said.

aheavens@phillynews.com

215-854-2472@alheavens