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  #1  
Old Posted Aug 19, 2020, 1:29 PM
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LANCASTER (PA) | Queen Street Apartments @ 202 N. Queen St.| 130 FT | 12 FLOORS

Main Line developer eyes downtown Lancaster for 16-story, $45M apartment building

By: Tim Meekel
LNP

Quote:
Seeing a demand for downtown living, a Delaware County developer wants to construct a 16-story apartment building on a parking lot at North Queen and West Chestnut streets.

Berger Rental Communities intends to develop 168 market-rate apartments in a 198-foot-high structure, which would be the third tallest in center-city, trailing only the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square and the Griest Building, both roughly 210 feet.
https://lancasteronline.com/business...19e833188.html

I am not too thrilled with a vehicle entrance on W. Chestnut Street and a pedestrian bridge over North Queen Street. The pedestrian bridge seems unnecessary. Lancaster is not Minneapolis during the winter and all this bridge will do is draw pedestrian traffic up off the street. I would also like to see more than 900 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Hopefully, the design will be tweaked a little more.

Overall this is a great project. Hopefully, the project team can get a zoning variance and other city approvals while securing financing.

Last edited by Urbannizer; Dec 13, 2023 at 8:02 AM.
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Old Posted Aug 21, 2020, 12:58 PM
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Interesting. I like the conceptual design at least.

Emporis lists the Griest Tower at 192' which would make this proposal the second tallest. That might be roof height only, so 210' might include any rooftop equipment / antennae? Either way, this would be a skyline impact for sure.

I'm not crazy about the pedestrian bridge over N Queen St. either, although I guess I understand its purpose to connect to the existing parking.

I'm wondering, is that proposed vehicle entrance on E Chestnut meant for loading / unloading / drop-offs only, or is there also going to be some below-grade parking? It is very close to the intersection of N Queen & E Chestnut...

Posting the renderings from the above article here, for others to see. Following!

South Elevation -


East Elevation -


Pedestrian bridge across Queen - rendering -

Source: Architectural Concepts PC
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Old Posted Aug 21, 2020, 1:48 PM
JMKeynes JMKeynes is offline
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That's fantastic. Lancaster is a beautiful little city.
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Old Posted Aug 22, 2020, 3:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deja vu View Post
Interesting. I like the conceptual design at least.

Emporis lists the Griest Tower at 192' which would make this proposal the second tallest. That might be roof height only, so 210' might include any rooftop equipment / antennae? Either way, this would be a skyline impact for sure.

I'm not crazy about the pedestrian bridge over N Queen St. either, although I guess I understand its purpose to connect to the existing parking.

I'm wondering, is that proposed vehicle entrance on E Chestnut meant for loading / unloading / drop-offs only, or is there also going to be some below-grade parking? It is very close to the intersection of N Queen & E Chestnut...
The Griest Building has a telecommunications tower on top of the mechanical penthouse, which you can see in my thumbnail picture. I am unsure whether the 210 foot height listed in the article refers to the Griest Building's roof height or the height to the top of the telecommunications tower. In any event, this proposal will definitely make a significant impact on the skyline. And because North Queen Street gently slopes upward toward Chestnut Street, this building will probably appear to be taller or roughly the same height as both the Griest Building and the Marriott Hotel. Unfortunately, that means the Griest Building will be blocked out when viewing the city from the north.


After examining the renderings of the building's W. Chestnut Street side again, I am becoming more disappointed with this building's street interaction. It is mainly a blank wall and a vehicle egress/ingress for, if I read the plans correctly, approximately 10 below grade (or at grade ) parking spaces. I mean the stretch of Chestnut Street from Prince to Duke is arguably downtown's worst as far as pedestrian experience goes. The County Government Center, the Holiday Inn Express, two parking garages, the Police Headquarters, etc. are all large scale buildings with little street level engagement. This building does little to help improve the situation, but at least there will be retail on North Queen Street . So overall it is a slight improvement in terms of pedestrian experience over the Magnolia Place travesty on the corner of N. Duke and E. Chestnut Streets.

What I do not understand is this property has a right of way back to N. Market Street so why not locate the vehicle entrance/exit on the building's northwest corner leading to N. Market. It is not like 10 more cars are going to overwhelm Market Street. Instead, it looks like the developer is planning on constructing a pedestrian cut-through from North Queen Street to North Market using that right of way.

After investigating the developer's background, Berger Rental Communities, this is their first foray into urban development and there are certainly elements of the building's design where their inexperience shows. Hopefully, the design changes a little (for the better) and Berger can get financing for this project. Although their inexperience in urban development leads me to believe, they may not have the expertise to get a project of this scale off the ground especially in this environment.

Last edited by mville1; Aug 22, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
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Old Posted Aug 23, 2020, 5:43 PM
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Love it! Lancaster is a great little city.
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  #6  
Old Posted Sep 15, 2021, 12:38 AM
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12-story version of proposed downtown Lancaster high-rise gets Historical Commission'

https://lancasteronline.com/business...6c0e70241.html

Sounds like this one has been down-graded to 12 stories but at least it got approved by the Historical Commission. Sounds like it still needs some more City approvals but it's at least heading in the right direction!

Should/can the title be updated?

New rendering:
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Old Posted Mar 23, 2022, 2:58 AM
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https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...bbcf448ee.html

Quote:
Queen and Chestnut streets high-rise
After the city’s Historical Commission unanimously approved a third version from Berger Rental Communities’ of its 202 N. Queen high-rise, the developer has since tweaked the plan again.

The 202 N. Queen plan now calls for a 12-story building with 142 luxury apartments and various amenities, said Berger’s director of marketing, Brian Miller. The $35 million building will also have a 2,800-square-foot retail space at the corner of North Queen and Chestnut streets, Miller said.

That’s more units than presented to the Historical Commission in August, when Berger Rental proposed a 12-story building with 126 units. An original proposal called for 16 stories, but the developer scaled down the proposal following the rising costs to build during the pandemic.

Berger hopes to begin construction in the fall and open by spring 2024.
This one was definitely downsized to 12 stories but sounds like it's a go now since they are hoping to begin construction in the Fall.
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Old Posted Apr 1, 2022, 1:32 AM
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Here are the new architectural renderings for three Lancaster city housing developmen

https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...24a4ed93c.html

202 N. Queen St.
Quote:
The Historical Commission also recommended to city council revised plans for the 12-story building proposed at the site of a surface parking lot at the corner of North Queen and West Chestnut streets.

Wayne-based Berger Rental Communities had originally proposed a 16-story $45 million building in 2020, but revised it to 12 stories in August, according to a project description it submitted to the commission. The updates this week featured modest changes to the exterior of the building, choosing to eliminate apartment balconies and use a wider portion of the building in the lower floors to create a communal rooftop space for residents.

The new plans also include a pedestrian walkway to connect North Market Street behind the site to North Queen Street. It would double as a “rain garden” with trees and plants to improve stormwater drainage.

The current building plan calls for 142 one- and two-bedroom market-rate apartments and 2,800 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

A spokesperson for Berger said the firm hopes to break ground at 202 N. Queen St. by the end of the year, and complete construction by the end of 2023.




Good to hear!
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Old Posted Mar 17, 2023, 2:08 AM
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Construction underway on North Queen apartment high rise

https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...9a38af50c.html

Not sure if this qualifies as under construction yet, but looks like it broke ground, which is really exciting IMO! Also, the title should be changed to 12 floors from 16.

Quote:
A suburban Philadelphia developer has started construction on a 12-story apartment building at the corner of Queen and Chestnut streets in downtown Lancaster.

Berger Rental Communities’ planned high rise at 202 N. Queen St. includes 142 units and 2,800 square feet of first-floor retail, all scheduled for completion in spring 2024. The developer declined to disclose the cost of the project.






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Old Posted Apr 18, 2023, 3:16 PM
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I drove by the site today. I was unable to get a picture, but it looked like they were drilling caissons into the ground in the middle of the lot. It looks like they dug approximately 10-15 feet below grade for this building. Final building height according to the below LNP article is 130 feet.

Also during excavation, crews uncovered tunnels underneath North Queen Street that dated back to when Lancaster's main train station was located at on the northeast corner of North Queen and East Chestnut Streets. It is believed the tunnels were constructed in the late 1800s to allow pedestrians to safely cross North Queen Street but were possibly abandoned even before the train station was moved to its current location on East McGovern Avenue in 1929.

Here is a link to the article: https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...095fd9c87.html
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Old Posted Apr 23, 2023, 2:10 AM
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Awesome, thanks for the update! And very interesting to hear about the abandoned tunnel.
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Old Posted Jul 11, 2023, 6:42 PM
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There is a webcam for this project. The link for it is below.

https://app.oxblue.com/cameras/7d108.../202northqueen
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  #13  
Old Posted Nov 21, 2023, 3:16 AM
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Originally Posted by mville1 View Post
There is a webcam for this project. The link for it is below.

https://app.oxblue.com/cameras/7d108.../202northqueen
Oh man! I haven't been on this site in almost 6 months, so I just now saw this. I wish I would have seen this sooner so I could have followed along with the construction... better late than never I guess!
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Old Posted Nov 21, 2023, 6:39 PM
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The webcam has a nice time lapse feature so you can get caught up quickly!
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Old Posted Nov 23, 2023, 4:10 AM
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Originally Posted by mville1 View Post
The webcam has a nice time lapse feature so you can get caught up quickly!
I did see that, which was nice to watch! I need to get down to Lancaster sometime soon to see this one under construction with my own two eyes.
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  #16  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2023, 6:40 PM
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The tower crane will be disassembled sometime between mid-January to early February depending on the weather.
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Old Posted Jan 27, 2024, 4:02 PM
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The tower crane is being removed now. Exterior work should be wrapped up in the next 2 months or so. From what I have heard and read, Berger and Benchmark are hoping to complete this building by the end of June.
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Old Posted Jan 30, 2024, 9:37 AM
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Has anyone been up close to this building? The facade looks real cheap. It already looks weathered and it’s only been up for a few months.
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Old Posted Jan 30, 2024, 6:31 PM
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Of course it's cheap. In order to make the numbers work, developers of sizable commercial projects in small cities will more often than not choose something lame, claiming they can't afford masonry or assuming city officials and townspeople desperate for economic development won't care or won't know the difference. It's not universally true but widespread and an unfortunate reality. A lot of smaller cities in the last 10, 15 years have seen TOD or "urban style mixed use", usually pitched as some sort of novel concept, and a big chunk of it is truly dreadful architecturally. Pretty much the worst 2000ese clichés and trends that are on their way to looking bad or already are. Not to be gloomy but many will look at some of the stuff currently going up 20 years from now and think "what were they thinking?" in the very same way people look at crap from the 70s and 80s.
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Old Posted Jan 31, 2024, 3:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
Of course it's cheap. In order to make the numbers work, developers of sizable commercial projects in small cities will more often than not choose something lame, claiming they can't afford masonry or assuming city officials and townspeople desperate for economic development won't care or won't know the difference. It's not universally true but widespread and an unfortunate reality. A lot of smaller cities in the last 10, 15 years have seen TOD or "urban style mixed use", usually pitched as some sort of novel concept, and a big chunk of it is truly dreadful architecturally. Pretty much the worst 2000ese clichés and trends that are on their way to looking bad or already are. Not to be gloomy but many will look at some of the stuff currently going up 20 years from now and think "what were they thinking?" in the very same way people look at crap from the 70s and 80s.
That's pretty reductive and pessimistic. Smaller urban cities like Easton and Allentown have absolutely seen some very solid high-rise construction with masonry/higher-end materials, so it's absolutely possible in a city like Lancaster, which is at least or more economically sound as the former two.

Lancaster is also a city that very much prides itself on its architecture and historic form, so it's disappointing if this project somehow "fell through the cracks," so to speak regarding an agreement or conditions for material type.

Ballooning material costs I'm sure played a role, as well, but still important to hold developers to account.
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