A bleak jumble of parking lots in Collingswood could give way to apartments

A preliminary proposal to construct a pair of mid-rise apartment buildings behind a lively stretch of businesses on Haddon Avenue aims to add population density, boost foot traffic, and create new public space in downtown Collingswood.

The Water Tower Area Revitalization Project is an effort to redesign and repurpose 1.8 acres of borough-owned land between Irvin and Collings Avenues. The site includes Collingswood’s public works facilities but is mostly a bleak jumble of parking lots. Its mix of one- and two-way street traffic, angled as well as parallel parking, make it a challenge for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

“And it looks terrible,” said Cindy Schreiber, who owns a shop called Clutter Vintage, a block west on Haddon Avenue.

A group of developers led by Tantum Real Estate in Jersey City and Pennrose in Philadelphia seek to construct a six-story building near Irvin that would offer 95 market-rate rental units and a five-story building close to Collings that would have 60 affordable apartments for seniors. Structured and covered parking at the two buildings, and elsewhere on the site, would total 259 spaces.

“It’s a big project that will provide stability and sustainability to the downtown,” said Mayor Jim Maley, who stewarded the far larger Lumberyard mixed-use development on the 600 block of Haddon in the early 2000s.

The borough council selected the Tantum-Pennrose proposal from six responses to a request for qualifications it published in January. The choice reflected approaches outlined in a 2007 study of downtown’s potential as a transit-oriented development hub as well as in the Heart of Collingswood design plan of 2003.

Under the proposal, the Collingswood Farmers Market, which draws thousands of Saturday morning visitors, will remain where it is. The Collingswood Bike Share is housed in the soon-to-be demolished Department of Public Works garage and will have to move, but program director Tom Messick said borough officials have said a new location will be found.

Meanwhile, the public works operations are being relocated to new facilities under construction at Sloan and Park Avenues. And the two pale-blue water towers that are a local landmark will become the focal point of a landscaped public gathering space.

“Collingswood has had a wonderful revitalization story. It’s got its own buzz, its own draw. There’s a lot going on,” said Debra Tantleff, founding principal of Tantum real estate.

“This incredible piece of property is right in downtown, with incredible mass transit.” she said. “It’s an opportunity for someone like me and my partners to help maximize the opportunities there. Collingswood has everything you want in the recipe for dynamic, mixed-use development.”

About 140 people attended public presentations by the developers in May and June, with many voicing concerns about how much public parking will remain on the site and how the construction disruptions will be handled.

Some business owners on the west side of the 700 block of Haddon Avenue worry that large delivery trucks will not be able to use their back entrances, while others doubt the promised public parking spaces in the garage at the larger apartment building will be a reality.

While Maley said demolition is “not part of the plan,” some property owners whose buildings back up to the Water Tower site say they’re worried about an idea that has been floated to create a wider and more prominent pedestrian connection between the avenue and the Water Tower site.

Brett Ainsworth, owner of the Retrospect building on the 700 block as well as the weekly newspaper he and his wife, Susan, publish there, has urged on his front page that their vintage structure and a neighboring business be spared.

“Demolition has been contemplated before, and the mayor hasn’t been willing to make a commitment to keep this block intact,” he said. “Demolition would ruin the architectural integrity of the block and create a gap in it for no real gain.“

Said longtime Collingswood Realtor and property owner Pat Siervo, who owns the building adjacent to Ainsworth’s: “There was an earlier proposal that called for demolition, but the proposal on the table now does not. But it’s early on in the process, and no firm decisions have been made, so no one knows exactly what’s going to happen.”

Ciervo also said that real estate professionals “regard the 700 block as a prime location and one of the reasons is the public parking in the back.”

Asked about the amount of parking being planned for a site two blocks from the Collingswood PATCO Station, Lindsey Ferguson, the borough’s director of community and business development, said reducing car dependency is a goal. But she pointed out that most patrons of downtown restaurants who don’t live in town or anywhere near a PATCO station have little choice but to drive.

Downtown Collingswood was slowly but steadily fading until pioneer restaurants like Villa Barone set up shop and others followed on the avenue, which has long since become a regional destination. Much of the redevelopment was propelled by small businesses like Clutter Vintage and locally owned restaurants.

Since the pandemic, the well-known Tortilla Press closed but has been replaced by newcomer Paloma, and a number of others have debuted as well.

“I love our restaurants, but the avenue needs more retail,” particularly on the stretch west of Collings, Schreiber said.

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Some shop owners on the east end of Haddon also said pedestrian traffic can be sparse, particularly early in the week. They note that the borough has only a handful of office buildings and lacks large employers downtown.

Maley said incremental growth is welcome but pointed out that large projects, such as the Lumberyard, can help downtown get to the next level.

The Lumberyard’s mix of condominiums, apartments, offices, and retail space, has made a difference, he said.

And the Water Tower redevelopment will yield a similar benefit by “having people living on the avenue who are oriented toward the avenue.”

Said Schreiber: “Let’s build up the town.”