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

A local developer’s proposed condominium complex in Swarthmore would offer ready access to a SEPTA Regional Rail station as well as to shops, restaurants, and cultural amenities in the heart of the Delaware County borough.

Called 110 Park, the $30 million, five-story building would increase the town center’s population and provide Swarthmore empty-nesters an opportunity to downsize in their community. The proposal also includes 1,250 square feet of retail space and preservation of the facade and front section of the Celia Building, a Park Avenue landmark.

But despite the urbanistic elements of the proposal, as well as design changes the developer has made to ameliorate public concerns, a significant number of Swarthmore residents, including architects, preservationists, and businesspeople, say 110 Park would dwarf its low-rise surroundings, cast a literal and figurative shadow over the town center, and erode the borough’s distinctive character.

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They also oppose the pending demolition of two vintage buildings and see the proposed 40-space parking garage at the complex as a potential threat to pedestrian and vehicular traffic safety.

“It’s an absolutely enormous building that is going to take away open space and [existing] structures, and not contribute to the public realm,” said Christopher Kenney, an architect who lives in Swarthmore.

Ever since the developer, 110 Park LLC, submitted the first iteration of the proposal for review in 2021, public concerns have focused on the impact of replacing a small-town expanse of Park Avenue streetscape that includes green space with a residential building more appropriate for a city block.

Discussion of the developer’s current application to consolidate several lots on the site consumed 12 hours at borough council sessions in January and February. The council is expected to vote on the measure on March 13.

“It would be great to see a higher-density development that was constructed thoughtfully and included an affordable-housing component,” Kenney said. “There is an opportunity for something wonderful to be developed in the town center, but this proposal isn’t it.”

Melanie Rodbart, one of the founders of a nonprofit called Save Our Swarthmore, said the group — which has collected more than 600 signatures of borough residents on a petition against 110 Park — is not opposed to town center development, including on Park Avenue.

“There’s a way to develop that site without razing everything on it,” said Rodbart, a structural engineer and owner of a company that specializes in historic preservation.

“To me, [110 Park] is not in keeping with the town center building code because the development is predicated on demolition,” she said. “We can increase density while also maintaining and celebrating the character, charm, and scale we already have. It doesn’t have to be either/or.”

Incorporated in 1893 and best known as the home of Swarthmore College, the borough is an inner-ring commuter suburb of Philadelphia. It has about 6,500 residents in its 1.4 square miles and features comfortable homes on tree-lined streets named after universities.

The Cumby family has been a part of Swarthmore for generations, and Bill Cumby, a former borough mayor who owns W.S. Cumby, a Delaware County construction firm, is a partner in developing 110 Park.

Cumby said the project reflects the goals of previous town center plans as well as revisions in 2013 to the borough zoning code to allow town center buildings to be as high as five stories.

He noted that a 2019 study commissioned by the Swarthmore 2030 Task Force found a potential demand for as many as 100 new “active adult” housing units in the borough.

“We already have a list of 70 couples who have expressed interest” in 110 Park, Cumby said.

Prices would range from $600,000 for some one-bedrooms to $1 million and above for three-bedroom units.

Cumby also said he respects the fact that some residents oppose 110 Park, which does not require any variances to the zoning code and can be erected as proposed.

“They care about the town as much as we do,” he said. “We appreciate people’s passion, and we do think a lot of the feedback we got has made it a better project.

“But as I look around I see a town that tried for years to improve the physical downtown, and I think our project will be an enormous improvement. It’s what the town center needs.”

Scott Richardson, who owns Occasionally Yours, a breakfast, lunch, and catering business on Park Avenue adjacent to the proposed condominium site, said its size had been his chief concern.

“But they took [110 Park] down from 36 condos to 30, they played with the design, and they’re keeping the front of the Celia Building,” he said.

That mixed-use building is beloved locally not only for its appearance, but also its backstory. It took a local businessman named Joe Celia four years to get his plan approved by the borough before construction started in 1932 because he wanted to build it up to the sidewalk. The SOS website includes a letter, written by Celia’s granddaughter, and urging that the building — which she said includes imported Italian marble in the foyer — be saved.

The complex “will increase the critical mass of the downtown area, which will help businesses,” Richardson said. “It could help turn it back into the pedestrian business district it was.”

Around the corner on Chester Road ― in the block of Tudor-style commercial buildings that are symbols of “the Ville,” as some call the town center — Susan Deininger said she has mixed feelings about the condo proposal.

“It will bring new business to the stores in the downtown,” said Deininger, who owns Kandy Kids Toys & Gifts.

“But my concerns are that it could harm the look and feel of the town. I love the small-town U.S.A. feel of Swarthmore. It’s a great town,” she said.

“I’m not opposed to progress. If they do [110 Park] in the right way, I feel it could be good for Swarthmore.”

Several opponents said the zoning revisions made in 2013, when an increase in vacant or underused properties was sparking concerns about maintaining the town center’s vitality, seem less relevant in light of the opening of several new retail businesses.

Currently, there are two retail vacancies in the district, which encompasses several blocks along Chester Road and Rutgers, Park, and Myers Avenues, and includes 44 businesses.

Opponents of the condo proposal said the popularity of the Swarthmore Farmers Market — which will open for its 18th season this spring in the municipal parking lot across from the 110 Park site — suggests that the town center may no longer need major redevelopment.

The 40-room Inn at Swarthmore, which was built by the Cumby family’s construction firm but developed by Swarthmore College, opened in 2016 on Chester Road and also has added vitality to the town center. And voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question in 2017 to allow liquor sales in the community, which had a long “dry” tradition. Several new establishments serving adult beverages have since opened.

“The rise of the town center came about without the weight of large-scale development on its shoulders,” said Shannon Elliott, whose Harvey Oak Mercantile boutique had to move to a new Park Avenue location to make way for the condo project.

“I get the feeling [110 Park] will be this giant thing dominating the heart of the town, the place where all our [civic] events are held,” she said. “Our town will be defined by a luxury condo.”

The controversy has alerted Swarthmore residents to what some describe as shortcomings in the borough’s development regulations. Although none of the buildings to be demolished or altered as part of the 110 Park project are on registries of historic places, the 100 block of Park Avenue is eligible to be declared a historic district but has not been proposed as such.

“We have no meaningful or enforceable preservation language in our zoning code,” said Kenney, the architect.

So the SOS group lobbied the borough council to establish a Historic Preservation Task Force. Its tasks include examining whether Swarthmore should establish a historic district. Members also have looked at how other suburbs in the Philly region such as Narberth are handling the demand for development of multifamily housing.

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“The Elm apartments in Narberth are sized and scaled to fit with the neighborhood,” said task force member Doug Harnsberger, who also is an architect.

“The problem in Swarthmore was created by the 2013 zoning code [revisions] to allow heights of up to 65 feet,” Harnsberger said. “The concern is that if this one gets built ... it won’t be the last.”