Swarthmore approves controversial five-story luxury condo building

Despite fierce opposition from some residents, the Swarthmore Borough Council on Monday approved a measure to enable a $30 million condominium project to be built in the town center.

“We are very appreciative of all of the support we’ve received and especially appreciative of borough council’s thorough and professional approach throughout the whole process,” developer Bill Cumby Jr. said in an email after the 6-1 vote authorizing consolidation of several Park Avenue properties his company owns into a single site.

» READ MORE: Swarthmore locals are divided over how well luxury condos would fit the borough’s distinctive character

Cumby and his son Bill III are among the partners developing the 30-unit 110 Park complex across from the borough hall and library. The project requires demolishing two vintage residential and commercial structures, as well as the back portion of another.

Some locals had argued that the five-story complex, which includes a parking garage, will cause traffic and pedestrian safety problems. They said its size and scale would damage the small-town ambience of Swarthmore, a community of 6,500.

The condo proposal sparked formation of a citizens group, Save Our Swarthmore, a petition drive that gathered 600 signatures of residents against the proposal and marathon borough council and planning commission hearings about it.

“I am heartsick over this travesty,” longtime Swarthmore resident Alison Manaker said in an email after 110 Park got the go-ahead. “The development ... will benefit a handful at the expense of everyone else. We will never regain what we are about to lose — green space [and] beautiful historic buildings in a beloved, central area of town.”

Mayor Marty Spiegel does not expect 110 Park will open the door to overdevelopment of the town center. “There’s still some room for development there,” he said during an interview in February.

Spiegel also said many older suburban communities in the region are seeking to add population density, particularly close to transit. Swarthmore, home to Swarthmore College, is served by SEPTA’s Media/Wawa line, and its station is a focal point of the town center.

Others in Swarthmore view the project as a boost for a commercial district where some properties are underused despite an influx of new retailers and restaurants in recent years.

Susan Deininger, who owns Kandy Kids Toys & Gifts on Chester Avenue, about two blocks from the condo site, said she had expected the proposal, which is allowed under the zoning law, would be approved.

“There was no way [the opposition] could have stopped it,” she said. “I’m hoping for the best. I hope they make the building as attractive as possible, out of courtesy to the town.”

Shannon Elliott owns Harvey Oak Mercantile, a Park Avenue business that had to move due to the project. She described the approval as “anticlimactic” in light of the 18-month grassroots effort to prevent it.

“Hopefully [the developers] do a good job with this gift they’ve been given,” she said.

Borough council member Scarlett McCahill, who voted for 110 Park, said wrestling with the ramifications of the project has helped Swarthmore “clarify its values,” which include a commitment to sustainability and stewardship of the environment.

The communitywide debate “underscores the opportunity we have as an affluent community to be leaders on mixed-income development and to really thoughtful about what kind of development we encourage moving forward,” she said.

“To me, it is really about how to make decisions that center our longtime residents as well as people who haven’t had a chance to move here yet, and not price them out.”

If construction begins next fall as expected, 110 Park — where prices will range from $600,000 to more than $1 million — should open in the spring of 2025, said Cumby.

“We hope to begin meeting with our prospective buyers next month,” he said.