Buckle up, West Whiteland, and neighboring East Whiteland. You know this won’t be good.
What will this be? Who knows in the end, but whatever it will be, will probably be scrubbed of any vegetation or trees, and probably will be unsuitable for the area.
Our communities are worth more than crappy residential and industrial development. And this location is land that Johnson Matthey sold. Johnson Matthey was at one point in time also the successor owner to toxic Bishop Tube. So here’s hoping that this land is not also toxic, right?
This is a developer who doesn’t care about communities. He cares about his profit margins. And this is the developer that bought that hideous development at Ship Road and Route 30 in West Whiteland, which also means that we have him to thank for the Ship Road Couplet.
So now it seems that a lot of developers are hitting the pause button on residential development but they’re not necessarily hitting it on industrial development and it’s like warehouses are the new condo.
I guess there are no more apartments to build in West Chester Borough so he’s branching out?
This came over alerts last night in West Whiteland. The location was the Brickette.
Here is a photo from last night:
Once again caused by the parking issues. People parking illegally keep going into this pit-like area right along the bar’s frontage on 100 / Old Pottstown Pike and turns the corner onto Kirkland.
This is where this “pit” is and the patrons -I don’t want to be offensive and call them drunks – seem to be tumbling cars into. Another resident sent this additional photo was taken after the last time we had snow so it’s fairly recent.
So apparently this “pit” has to do with stormwater management.
See an “after” photo and close-up today:
So the patrons of the Brickette also apparently are trashing the property of the place that they are patronizing?
And why is this happening?
Insufficient parking.
Again, no one wants this business to be deprived of success but they haveto address this.
Eyewitness reports from last evening tell me the bar was so crowded that there were many, many cars parked on Route 100 and all over Kirkland Ave.
So again questions must be asked about capacity inside, correct? If they are over capacity and there is a fire or something how old these parking issues impede first responders, and also to be asked is if it’s over capacity inside and God forbid there is some sort of a fire or incident what happens inside with the patrons?
The Brickette had a post up on their socials about their sign taking a tumble in the wind February 29. What would’ve happened if one of the patrons was next to it? I will note that what they put up on their socials clearly shows how close cars are to where people are illegally parking on 100.
Anyway, I am sure my writing about this again will bring yet more comments saying I’m being mean and unfair to the business. But I’m not being unfair to the business. They just need to deal with their parking issues. No one begrudges them their success but with their success comes responsibility, right ? It’s pretty simple.
Un-freaking-believable. Just wrote about the Brickette on Route 100 Old Pottstown Pike in West Whiteland. I have lit up the photo slightly so readers can see.
Here is the original photo I was sent at 8:00 PM on the nose. Those are a bunch of cars, not just a couple.
Look at the fog settling in.
This is patently irresponsible of the Brickette Lounge. They are putting patrons at risk. It’s selfish fuckery and yes I just said that out loud.
That’s all I have got. Shame on the Brickette. They could have satellite parking and a shuttle for overflow. They could do ticketed nights to control capacity. But the management and ownership seem to not be able to do this and why? So truly disappointing.
Also, and related, some long time line dancing folks who have been dancing there since it was the original Brickette have all stopped going. Now these are people who love line dancing, so I inquired as to why. Especially since they were so sad when the original Brickette closed and so happy when it was initially re-opening.
And I was told that not only is there no place to park in the parking lot, there are limited seats inside and they said after you dance for a while you’d like to sit down and watch the dancing and you can’t or if you do get a seat, can we call it? The boozy college student kind of crowd kind of takes over and takes your seat? So does that fit with the profile of the two other bars this company owns in the Borough of West Chester?
Maybe I am unusual, but I was never even a big fan of how crowded the old Rat used to get back in the day.
Anyway, that’s it. Bad bar neighbors are very unattractive. And it doesn’t matter whom they are catering to.
I’ve written about the Brickette Lounge twice now. Probably three times if you count when I merely shared the article about it coming back after being closed and then sold on my blog’s Facebook page.
I was glad it was getting a second lease on life initially, because it had been such a community favorite over time. A place like that is not ever going to be my jam because it’s line dancing, which has never interested me. Sometimes I like country music and Americana Roots music, but the whole honky tonk in the land of Yankees? I am completely ambivalent.
The old Brickette coexisted with the neighbors. The new Brickette isn’t so much. I know nothing about the owners or staff and the barbecue they serve isn’t bad, but not as good as Farm Boy BBQ, but no one is and that’s just my opinion. Not a criticism.
However, where I am criticizing the Brickette and the bar people who own it has to do with the parking. And it’s not just a couple of cars of overflow it is a LOT of overflow, taking over a residential neighborhood and parking on Route 100 like it’s a side street and it’s not.
This parking problem is dangerous. And it also lends itself to a conversation about occupancy levels inside the building doesn’t it?
I suggested while writing about this, that maybe if they did ticketed events it would help with the parking and therefore occupancy issues, right? Because when you create a ticket event, it’s basically like a cover charge. And you also get a count. It’s not a bad thing. Just like it’s also not a bad thing that it was suggested to the Brickette that they rent a satellite parking lot for these very crowded evenings and have a little shuttle bus.
In the meantime, West Whiteland Township is proceeding with no parking signs and parking restrictions as per the meeting last evening.
Some people have been kind of obnoxious about the neighbors expressing their concerns. And now people are getting obnoxious about me writing about this. Someone rolled up today with a few comments allow me to share the screenshots.
These comments make me curious.
Gosh, she was fun, right? I leave my comments open because I like normal discourse. not pound on me I am a horrible person for having an opinion different from theirs discourse. And when people come in guns a blazing like this, you think to yourself, they’re not necessarily just a customer but maybe they have some affiliation with the actual establishment and or the ownership group right? Well that’s what I wonder about here.
But it’s funny, my new pen pal goes from thinking it’s “weird“ that I write about this too. I’m a bad writer. And when you hit a nerve with someone you can always go to the bank on the fact that they will say you’re a bad writer.
And also, it is not elitist in the least to say if you can’t afford to go out, don’t. It’s life and simple economics.
And do I have resentment about the Brickette? That doesn’t even make sense because I really don’t care about the bar, I care about the neighborhood around the bar.
Then this woman says my writing about this is “unproductive.” It’s just something I’ve decided to write about because I see a problem happening with the neighbors, and the neighbors deserve more of a voice. It’s that simple. It’s not about trying to shut the Brickette down, they just need to be decent to their residential neighbors. Dealing effectively with their parking problems will accomplish that.
So actually the Brickette does have control over their parking lot. And no they can’t magically make the land footprint bigger, but I also wonder if it is possible to rearrange the parking lot so you get more parking spaces in there?
The whole point writing about this is the neighbors have rights too. They don’t want their bar neighbor to not have success, but they reserve the right to not be happy to find drunk people on their lawns, eating McDonald’s, and parking everywhere and on Old Route 100 making it dangerous to exit the neighborhood onto Old Route 100.
People are going to think I am picking on a local business just because. I am not. This is a question of public safety, and how neighbors are being treated.
A post on NextDoor caught my eye, and it wasn’t the first post I had seen about problems living near the new Brickette Lounge on Historic/Old Route 100:
I just have to say this…I live near the Brickette, I am very proud of locally owned businesses. However tonight as many other nights the patrons of the place parked directly on Pottstown Pike right in front of the business as well as on Kirkland and other streets close to the bar. I am aware of this situation as it happens often so when I see it I know to be careful turning from Pottstown Pike onto Kirkland & vise versa. This is an issue that needs to be addressed due to the fact as I was turning onto Kirkland tonight and traveling up the street, another vehicle coming in the opposite direction almost hit me head on as with cars parked on the side of the road it leaves the road very narrow there is no way to move over. Thank god the other vehicle saw me at the last moment, came to a stop and we both drove away safe but these patrons parking causing hazards must stop! Some of my neighbors have even found people passed out or eating McDonalds on their front lawn in the middle of the night! The police have been notified on several occasions but nothing has been done to stop this very dangerous situation. Can anyone point me in the right direction of who within the township I can express my concerns to. Thank you in advance.
This is not the first time since they reopened, that I’ve heard these complaints. You see these posts go up in places, and then they come down. Yet the problems seem to persist.
I have no problems with live music, I have no problems with line dancing, but I do have problems when patrons of a bar and seemingly the actual establishment don’t respect the neighborhood in which the bar sits. And whether these patrons and/ or the establishment like it or not, this establishment has residential around it, and they need to be treated with respect.
Kirkland Avenue is its own small neighborhood. And if you’ve ever been on it, it’s a fairly narrow road. It runs between West King and Old Pottstown Pike.
That street is not an extension of a parking lot. And I could tell you honestly without batting an eye if I found bar patrons on my front lawn eating McDonald’s when a bar closed, I would turn a garden hose on them.
3 West Hospitality is a growing restaurant operations and management group that is focused on high-quality concepts and staff development based out of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
I know West Whiteland is trying to deal with this. They are in the process of ordering no parking signs but they are advertising for the signs and no parking on Old Pottstown Pike and Kirkland Ave, etc. and that takes time.
The company which owns the Brickette could do better, but are they in fact being a little hands off? I mean they should want to be a good neighbor, right? The old Brickette Lounge didn’t do this. They never had to deal with parking problems. They weren’t crappy to neighbors.
Last week the Chair of the West Whiteland Supervisors, Brian Dunn, went out on Monday evening at the request of residents to check out how busy the Brickette is on Mondays. You see they do line dancing Mondays and Wednesday. Well he almost got hit coming out on Old Pottstown Pike/ Old Route 100 because of ALL of the people parking on Old Route 100/Pottstown Pike!
Again, I am really glad that this place is doing so well again. It looked so dismal for the last few years of its prior existence. However, there are neighbors to be considered, and there are safety issues.
The owners of this place should be looking for solutions. Success is a great thing to have, but if you can’t fit all your patrons on your footprint, then you have to look to safely solve the problem. People parking on Old Route 100/Pottstown Pike is not safely solving any problems it’s basically Mae West’s famous quote “Hello, Suckers” because it’s only a question of when someone gets hit leaving this bar for parking there, not if, right?
3 West Hospitality and the Brickette could make the line dancing nights or whatever an Eventbrite event. That way when they sold out enough tickets that covered the spaces in the parking lot, they were done for the night on that event. They could rent a shuttle bus and offer shuttle service.
Brickette Lounge has expenses they have to meet for sure, but they also have a responsibility towards the community they exist in. They also have a responsibility towards their guests. And by not stressing things like don’t park on the road in front of the bar, they put patrons at risk, don’t they? Are profits worth more than lives?
Maybe Brickette Lounge doesn’t give a damn about these issues, but they should, shouldn’t they?
I don’t even know where to start with this Ship Road Couplet, other than so far all it’s doing is giving residents heart attacks because of all the people going the wrong way.
I am generally not a giant proponent of things designed by PennDOT, because so often it doesn’t necessarily fit the area they plunk stuff into.
In my opinion, right or wrong, the Ship Road Couplet is why the people who live near Route 352 and West King Rd. didn’t want PennDot to have their way with a traffic circle there a few years ago.
I have been on it once and I didn’t like it. And the reason I didn’t like it is because of people going the wrong way on it and that’s scary. So honestly, I have avoided it ever since.
As is the case with many things PennDot, they engineer things and that’s that. However, I do know that West Whiteland has additional signage and maybe some lights or something arriving soon but it’s just problematic. I know the supervisors there aren’t going to like my opinion on this, but it’s my opinion.
I think this whole couplet was designed solely to facilitate a developer and a development that residents in West Whiteland and elsewhere didn’t want there. It’s a crappy looking development and it’s all about adding more density to an area, bursting at the seams, and then a developer pockets the money and moves along to the next project. Of course, in this case, one of the projects is the land he bought at King Rd and Phoenixville Pike and possibly behind the homes on Old Phoenixville Pike, right?
I also have to ask did the developer kick in any money towards this intersection improvement? I remember when Conshohocken was being redeveloped, developers had to help facilitate road improvements and that included signals, road improvements and a new bridge at one point.
So to me, this was a traffic solution especially designed for a developer and development, but did it really need to be that? It’s kind of like zoning overlays that are designed for developers. I think those are a bad idea too, but you that’s another topic for another day.
Residents have pointed out flaws in the design, even on Route 30. On Route 30 it’s with the turning going straight, etc. and there’s this weird dip or maybe a pocket in the road. So wait until it gets icy if somebody’s going too fast right?
Below for illustrative purposes, are 4 photos that are on Google. Top left is what it looked like before the couplet went in. Top right is a review of the Wawa that’s really a review of the couplet. Lower left taken three weeks ago shows you how freaking unattractive the whole thing is from an aesthetic opinion along with how lame directional curb cuts are. Bottom right is just how big the Wawa is, basically.
Now I have looked at this Wawa, and they have sort of angled curb cuts, but quite frankly, not angled enough to keep people from going the wrong way. I think they need to be angled better, and I think there needs to be one of those little concrete bollard things to prohibit people from turning the wrong way. This is not the first Wawa that has had to revisit curb cuts. I seem to remember a Main Line one having to do it at one time and I think it was the one on Bryn Mawr Avenue and Haverford Road.
All people do is go to the wrong way on this. And I think part of it is all the map programs haven’t caught up with this road “improvement.” and I went on Google just today to see if they finally would have pictures of what the couplet looks like on Google and they do not. PennDOT did a typical pat themselves on the back but not much else.
So PennDOT? Tag you’re it. And I hope you like the photo a nice business was kind enough to share with me today. I think it sums the situation up perfectly: Happy New Year To All Except The Ship Road Engineer.
Damn people it’s developer who’s on first isn’t it?
Late last night, I broke the news on this blog about the Johnson Matthey land getting sold in West Whiteland and as per the Philadelphia business journal plans for Eli, Kahn to build warehouses.
But wait, there’s more. Apparently misery loves company and there’s another warehouse bit of scuttlebutt floating around Chester County, not too far away from this.
Sources living out around Uwchlan who have had to live through Lionville Statuon Farm have been keeping an eye on a particular location off of Route 100 and behind where the Harley Davidson place was and kind of where the ice hockey rink is.
They say that on edge of Uwchlan, another warehouse plan is being hatched? Is it true it is also developer Eli Kahn? The fear is that someone if not him will be putting up a warehouse at the end of Haywood Drive (where the skating rink is) and does anyone else have details? The land is fully covered in trees that provides a nice buffer from the turnpike for people on roads like Susan Drive and Saddle Drive.
So if I have it straight, it’s the Uwchlan side of East Township Line Road? Rumors residents are hearing has it that Uwchlan Township expects a warehouse proposal there in February?
And speaking of warehouse proposals what about that land near this cleared by Hankin last year or something for warehouses?
So I think, in my humble opinion that warehouses are the new apartments/condos/town houses/carriage homes/commercial real estate office buildings.
People say this real estate market is still so “hot.” I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. No one wants to admit when a real estate market is softening because it’s the death knell for developers isn’t it? I think certain aspects of real estate are still “hot,” but I think people are not renting the apartments as quickly as we are told; I don’t think new builds on condo, townhouse, developments, and “carriage” homes are moving as quickly as possible. Also just driving around you can see that regular residential McMansion builds are not selling out as quickly anymore.
And we know the commercial real estate market is also struggling given the fact how developers want to reimagine commercial office buildings if they can’t sell them. Look no further than Tredyffrin . They want to make one a school which actually isn’t a bad idea.
But then you look at East Whiteland and a developer wants to turn an old commercial office building into apartments because we need more of those of course, right?
By Ashley Fahey – Editor, The National Observer: Real Estate Edition, The Business Journals Jan 24, 2024
Now I am told from friends in Tredyffrin the new builds in historic Mount Pleasant are not quite selling like hotcakes, and the upper Merion side of Mount Pleasant has he had another proposal coming for like three more McMansion houses – this was the message I received:
Upper Merion Zoning Board Hearing next Wednesday February 7th. 7pm. Developer wants to build 3 townhomes at 1034 Mt Pleasant.
Called the ZHB officer to ask if neighbors on the Tredyffrin end of the street are allowed to speak. Waiting for a return call.
So recent infill development in Mount Pleasant. I think is one single McMansion and eight McMansion twins and residents over there are not seeing any have sold.
Ok ⬆️ above is preposterously called The Enclave at Saint Davids. That is very amusing Main Line marketing to me because this is Wayne but it’s close to St. David’s which I guess sounds more pretentious? You know kind of like when they call Downingtown Chester Springs? And the price tag on Henry/Fairview ? $1,349,000. $1,149,000.
Now part of the reason they’re maybe not selling are the student housing slumlords in this neck of the woods right? I mean would you want your million dollar house down the street from where drunken off campus college students are vomiting on residents cars after partying all night?
Sorry, I know I’ve been rambling on here a bit. But we have to keep talking about these crazy ass developments. They keep popping up so they’re still building residential but it’s really not selling the way you would think. People are still buying houses but they’re looking for established neighborhoods and even fixer-uppers because the price points are so crazy.
And then there are all the parcels of land or structures are sitting rotting because no one has paid the price to buy the land. That could be for commercial or residential.
In some cases, there are historical assets sitting there rotting. Lloyd Farm in Caln comes to mind or the Joseph Price House in Exton/West Whiteland. Even the historic farmhouse on Route 30 in Frazer, next to the boat dealership counts.
Whatever the reason is for development, there is too much of it. And if all of a sudden more warehouse, plans are popping up and worse it’s a potential indication of the fact that municipalities need to actually pay close attention here? But are they?
Only time will tell.
Maybe it’s just my opinion, but maybe just maybe it all needs to stop for a while? And we can’t do it just with the officials in various municipalities, the state needs to step in, but then they would have to get past lobbyists wouldn’t they?
I leave you with beware the Aesop‘s fable of “build it and they will come,” because sometimes it’s just like the Emperor’s New Clothes and maybe not really there, but hey, I am but a mere mortal and a female. What do I know right?
So we all know that this land has been for sale on the edge of East Whiteland, but in West Whiteland. It is one of two parcels you can see on W. King Rd. This particular parcel is part of Johnson Matthey, or it was until today apparently. Eli Kahn, has purchased the land according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Some of us were talking about this parcel earlier today, because a friend of mine, saw a bobcat in the overgrown, weedy plot of land, clearing it, or doing something like clearing it.
I actually said to someone I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I said maybe they’re finally just cleaning it up because it’s been for sale for so long. Well I should’ve known better, it’s been sold.
I will admit, as soon as I saw this article what I said out loud sitting here reading it was motherf—-er. Yes I said that. Loudly. I mean Christ almighty HOW MUCH MORE DEVELOPMENT? HOW MUCH MORE?
Because this is already the rumored developer sniffing around on that 15 acres behind old Phoenixville Pike across W. King Rd., isn’t it?
And let us not forget that the Weston tract is in play for fairly dense residential development still, even if West Whiteland said no to the last round of developer ideas. And Weston is for sure getting developed as something. And gosh a few pipelines run around there too, don’t they?
And let us not forget the hot mess up at Ship Road and Lancaster Avenue in West Whiteland. And the Ship Road Couplet.
The above photos are from September, 2023.
HOW MUCH DEVELOPMENT CAN WE SWALLOW?
Oh the Philadelphia Business Journal referred to Johnson Matthey as:
“Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company that owns the adjacent parcel with an industrial building on it.”
Well that made me giggle. Johnson Matthey is like a born again virgin I suppose? Are we all supposed to forget they were among the successor companies to Bishop Tube that still toxic paradise on S. Malin Road in East Whiteland? Is it just coloring outside the lines to mention the little fact of life called a local area evacuation in 2011 because of a hydrogen trailer explosion at Johnson Matthey?
The Johnson Matthey plant and nearby homes in West Whiteland, Chester County, have been evacuated after a hydrogen trailer exploded this morning.
Action News reports one injured person was taken to Crozer Chester Medical Center in an unknown condition and King Road is shut down between Ravine and Phoenixville Pike.
The Red Cross is already on the scene and will be at the East Whiteland Fire Department to assist with a reception center.
Here is the official announcement from PEMA:
“An immediate evacuation is issued for West Whiteland Township in Chester County due to fire at Johnson Matthey Company. Residents in the area are to evacuate to East Whiteland Fire Company, 170 Planebrook Road, off Rt. 30 Frazer – evacuated roads include King Road, Ravine Road, Glen Loch Way and Lewis Lane. Residents needing assistance should call 610-344-5005. Motorists and pedestrians should avoid unnecessary travel within the perimeter of the area. Stay tuned to your local televison and radio network for updated information.”
So Johnson Matthey is still a site to watch so we assume Mr. Developer Man will have this just purchased the land at Phoenixville Pike and West King Road tested for toxic chemicals? Because there is that worry somewhat, right? Even if that goes industrial there?
So we really do need to think about this here. Traffic is already hard. There is RESIDENTIAL up and down King Road on BOTH sides of Phoenixville/Old Phoenixville Pikes.
There is residential already suffering on Ship Road.
And warehouses? Now they want to Amazon us over here? So other types of commercial real estate (offices)! aren’t moving so they are trying everywhere to dump it or convert it to residential and in Tredyffrin, to a school, but is residential really, really moving that fast? And then what’s left? Why warehouses and hydrogen hubs and data farms/data centers, right?
And where does that leave us suckers I mean residents? Those of us who lived here before developers, saw something juicy up the road or two roads over or three roads over or another township over?
What are our rights as residents of Chester County and these various municipalities? it’s like we have no rights and I don’t know about you, but I’m goddamn tired of it. We work hard to have our homes and to raise our families in a specific area and one by one every area is getting targeted by developers and none of these developers, or anything, other than predatory in my humble opinion, and I can have that humble opinion.
This is why, yet again, the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of freaking Pennsylvania needs to be updated COMPREHENSIVELY. I mean come on you. Lovely politicians in Harrisburg. You haven’t done a comprehensive update since 1969 and I know you’re saying why rush but your constituents are saying it’s time.
God damnit it’s every day some other developer or some other plan. It’s exhausting and depressing. So I wonder, did this particular developer run out of places to build in West Chester Borough so he’s coming over to this part of the county?
These developers don’t care about any of the communities they come into. They just care about their profit margins. Where we live are just lines on a balance sheet.
So I’m sure I don’t have to remind this developer that my opinions are courtesy of my First Amendment Rights and residents do have some rights all around this proposed location?
Chester County is dying people. Dying.
Overdevelopment of any kind in this county needs to be an election issue for 2024. On every level of elected office from Harrisburg, PA to Washington DC.
This is along 100 in West Chester. The Old Pottstown Pike section. On the right as you are headed towards West Chester Borough.
I am told that it is actually in West Whiteland. I was never sure. I thought maybe West Goshen originally.
As for who once lived there I was told a man who worked on cars, dabbled in antiques and old photos too. That resulted in a memory of a conversation with a friend of mine who is a local historian years ago who said he gave her photos or a photo for a book she published. I am told his name was Bob Swayne?
So how does a house get to this state? Who were his heirs? How can any municipality just ignore this?
I took photos of this house a few years ago. Of course I can’t find them, but I do not remember the house being tagged. I don’t remember the roof having fallen apart.
It’s not a great beauty of a house. It’s probably not historic in any way. But once it was someone’s home. That is just a little sad.
I stumbled across this again doing some research and it is truly a wonderful history of the township. It is on West Whiteland’s website and you can download it to read. I have uploaded it here as well because I really think it’s good.
