40 new apartments are coming to Jenkintown at the site of the former Helweg funeral home
Plans for the new building, which will sit at the intersection of Route 611 and Cherry Street across from Dunkin’, also include a ground-floor commercial space and a parking garage with 48 spaces.
Construction is underway on a mixed-use apartment building facing York Road in Jenkintown.
Plans for the new building, which will sit at the intersection of Route 611 and Cherry Street across from Dunkin’, include 40 apartments and a ground-floor commercial space.
The four-story structure also includes a parking garage with 48 spaces. Eight of those will be reserved for the retailer, developer and owner Vincent Celenza said.
Some Jenkintown residents have previously voiced concerns about parking permit arrangements for new apartments, arguing that charging for the spots encourages occupants to use free street parking instead.
But Jenkintown Borough Manager George Locke said he’s heard some argue that no-cost parking permits could present a different problem: “[An] owner might just work the cost of parking into all leases and that might negatively affect those who chose not to drive and use public transportation instead.”
Celenza said he hasn’t decided yet how to handle parking permits. “That was one of [the borough’s] concerns,” he said.
An older building on the site, Helweg Funeral Services Inc, was demolished earlier this month.
Celenza bought the land in 2022 from the trust of the Helweg family funeral home’s owner, Mary Welham Wurmstedt, according to property records.
Newspaper archives indicate the Helweg funeral home had operated on the property since at least the 1930s. Helweg’s has merged with another funeral home and is now located two miles down the street in Abington.
Celenza went through several rounds of planning with Jenkintown, which requested fewer apartments and a wider sidewalk on Cherry Street, Locke said. Celenza agreed to those requests in the final plan submitted last summer.
The developer will also add a small public area with two benches on a back corner of the property at Cherry and Johnson Streets.
The apartment complex, named 459 Flats, is set to open in June 2027, Celenza said.
Average rent for the apartments, which range from studios to two-bedroom units, will be about $2,400 per month.
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