Deadline for Ardmore's makeover

As Ardmore's revitalization project struggles to regain momentum after its first-choice developer quit two weeks ago, a $5.8 million government grant could be lost unless progress is soon made.

The Federal Transit Administration appropriation was issued in 2004 for a complete makeover of the Main Line village's 1950s-era train station. Experts have maintained that a renovated station should anchor a full-blown revival of Ardmore's business district.

However, converting the drab, one-story, flat-roofed structure into a transit hub for trains, buses and bikes, surrounded by stores, offices and residences, had been on hold as Lower Merion Township commissioners searched for a redeveloper for downtown Ardmore.

Officials thought they had one: township resident Edward B. Lipkin's EBL&S Development, which they selected in January. But Lipkin stunned them by announcing on March 4 that he was pulling out, citing the tightening credit market and concerns that he would not be able to secure financing for his ambitious $300 million plan.

That raised the anxiety level for U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.). Along with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), he had helped secure the grant for the train station. A three-year deadline to use the money expired in September 30; Gerlach arranged a one-year extension.

On Monday, Gerlach got officials from the township and SEPTA - the official recipient of the grant - on the phone for a reality check.

"We're getting concerned if there's not significant progress . . . then those funds would be threatened," Gerlach said afterward in an interview. "We certainly don't want to see those funds lost due to lack of action."

Bruce D. Reed, chairman of the Lower Merion commissioners, said he told Gerlach that the township expects to have a new redeveloper "within the next two weeks." He and other board members said they might appoint one as early as tonight, when three companies that had been passed over in January will again vie for the contract at a public meeting at the township building.

In the interview, Gerlach said he understood that economic conditions beyond the township's control had upended revitalization plans, which had finally seemed on track after more than five years of uncertainty. However, he said, Lower Merion and SEPTA "have $6 million to work with regardless of what the economy is doing . . . so they need to move forward as soon as possible."

At tonight's session, the developers each will have 20 minutes to present their visions of Ardmore's future. They are BET Investments Inc., Dranoff Properties and Strategic Realty. None has proposed a project on the scale of Lipkin's, which included a six-story office tower and hotel over the train tracks that separate Ardmore's tired Lancaster Avenue commercial corridor from the thriving Suburban Square mall.

The Lipkin proposal had struck many locals as overambitious and out of character with the town's mostly two- and three-level storefronts.

"We still have three good options, all of them more doable than the original choice," Commissioner Cheryl Gelber, who was not a Lipkin supporter, said on Monday.

There is no preferred candidate, she said. Given Lipkin's problems, she added, the commissioners are eagerly awaiting word from an economic consultant on the financing prospects for the three plans. Each is valued at about $100 million - one-third of Lipkin's price.

In the past, Gelber had praised elements of the proposals by both Dranoff and Strategic. This week, she also gave kudos to BET's latest plan; it now includes affordable housing and more open space. Bruce E. Toll, chairman of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., owner of The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, is principal of BET.

Gelber and others in the community have expressed concern about Dranoff's plan for a mini Main Street on Lancaster Avenue's north side, near the tracks. Absent some pedestrian bridges, they say, the south side could languish.

Dranoff could not be reached for comment yesterday. Representatives of BET and Strategic said they have adjusted their proposals to reflect the suggestions of residents and business owners.

Along Lancaster Avenue, Joe Rufo just wants "something to get started." He's done his part. For the last 12 years, he has operated Brownies 23 East, and on March 31, he and a partner will open a restaurant across the street, J.R. Monaghan's. Rufo feared losing Brownies four years ago, when the Lower Merion commissioners threatened to acquire his property and others through eminent domain, to make way for a canyon of midrise stores and office buildings.

That led to lawsuits, the formation of the unrelenting Save Ardmore Coalition, a citizens group of 500 members, and the defeat of the commissioners who had supported eminent domain.

Rufo said he was glad that Lipkin's proposal was dead because it was "too big and too much." Like many business owners in Ardmore, he believes that many of the town's ills could be cured with one thing: more parking.

"That," he said, "might be all we need."