In aging Bucks town, new life

For much of the last 27 years, the vacant lot at Seventh and Market Streets in historic Perkasie has been like a missing tooth in an aging smile.

It was the center of the business district until a fire in 1988 leveled the Victorian-style American House Hotel, a five-and-dime, and other businesses.

The blaze was the final act in the downtown's decline. Other historic buildings already had been lost by the late '60s, taken under a federal program that encouraged their demolition in the hope they would be replaced with modern ones. They were not, and the suburban shopping malls that sprouted elsewhere in Bucks County in the 1970s siphoned off business.

But Perkasie's downtown, whose streets are named and arranged after those in Center City, is staging a comeback, aiming for a Doylestown- or West Chester-style revival. Last week, a developer broke ground on a project to rebuild the block at Seventh and Market. High-end apartments and retail space will pay architectural tribute to the old hotel.

"You know the metaphor about the phoenix rising from the fire?" said Stephen Barth, Perkasie's director of economic development, who helped usher in the project and others. "That is Perkasie's story."

The town of 8,500, 35 miles north of Philadelphia, has welcomed a dozen new businesses that attract millennials and baby boomers, two groups typically shunning suburbs for urban or small-town settings.

New stores include an artisan Bread Box & Bakery and the microbrewery Free Will Brewing, which opened in an old textile mill. More projects, residential and commercial, are planned. Ground will be broken for some in the coming months.

Dominic Capece, co-owner of the brewery, has lived in Perkasie for 18 years, and his business partner grew up there. Besides the charm of the old mill and the town, he said, they chose the borough because its council gave them breaks on permit fees and was flexible with zoning rules. Free Will opened in 2012 and now has 10 employees.

"Most of the properties and residential dwellings date back almost 100 years, and there's just a lot of nice architecture," Capece said. "I think the town is going to realize its full potential now that we're taking some of these long-empty lots and just returning them to what they were, but with an eye on the future."

The revitalization has been years in the making, beginning around the time of the fire, town officials said. Hoping to keep interest in Perkasie's downtown, they have brought in car shows, hosted a farmers' market, and continued a more-than-100-year-old Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

They also credit the borough's comprehensive plan, which seeks to increase the town center's mix of residences and businesses, particularly shops and restaurants. The county also is offering loans to help secure deals with developers.

But larger forces are at work, said economist Joel Naroff, who is based in Bucks County.

"People are not looking for places that are isolated, like the suburban and exurban developments," Naroff said.

"They are looking for the more mixed-use setting. To the extent that smaller towns in the region can develop their downtown, they have a great opportunity to succeed because of that preference, whether it's among millennials or boomers."

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