7 minute read
Kennett Pointe development
Getting to the Point
All images courtesy of Montchanin Builders, except where noted
Spread across 13 acres on the corner of East Cypress Street and Ways Lane, Kennett Pointe will feature 53 “new urbanist” townhouses and a 41,000-square-foot mixed-use building – all in a village-like setting that will be walking distance to the Kennett Borough.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
In 2016, Kennett Square Borough partnered with Kennett Township and Historic Kennett Square – now Kennett Collaborative – to create the Kennett Region Economic Development Study, a 234-page report that contained the broad strokes for the future of economic, labor, real estate and land development in the Kennett area.
It was a huge project – one that was hammered out through several conversations with local and regional stakeholders – and one that specifically spelled out the vision for how seven locations in the township and borough could someday be re-imagined to meet the needs of a growing community.
The report cast a very large net of focus that included the State and Cypress street corridors; Birch Street from Walnut
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te in Kennett Square
Responding to a vision that reimagined the Ways Lane area, Kennett Pointe will soon emerge as a community of businesses, townhomes, gardens and gazebos
to Broad streets; the former NVF site in the borough; the west side of Mill Road and the Millers Hill vicinity on the eastern border between the borough and the township. The seventh and final area, however – the Ways Lane vicinity in the township – was thought to be the most challenging and require the grandest vision of all.
For the past several years, the road has been nearly impassable to vehicles and has stifled any real commercial and residential progress, and any prior initiatives to improve the area quickly stalled. For a borough and township whose leaders, residents and businesses have seen Kennett Square become one of the most popular small towns in America, Ways Lane remained a small sliver of neglect in a grand dream of achievement.
Then a breakthrough happened.
In August 2018, The Commonwealth Group submitted its original design plans for what was originally known as “Kennett Gateway” to the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors and the township’s Planning Commission, which led to additional conversations, amendments and
Photo by Dylan Francis
Don Robitzer, senior vice president & COO of The Commonwealth Group and co-founder of Montchanin Builders, at Kennett Pointe earlier this year.
eventual approval as a mixed-use commercial and residential development located in the intersection of Ways Lane and East Cypress Street.
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On Dec. 12, 2020, during his Zoom presentation before several elected officials and key economic stakeholders, Don Robitzer, senior vice president & COO of The Commonwealth Group and co-founder of Montchanin Builders, introduced a broadened concept for the development that now had a new name: Kennett Pointe.
The entire blueprint, Robitzer said, was already there, beginning on Page 30 of the Kennett Region Economic Development Study: Create a New Village on the Edge of Town. “Frontage along Cypress Street and Cope Road can create a gateway landscape and an evolving neartown ‘campus district’ [for] education, theater, residential workforce housing, senior care/senior housing, corporate campus/mixed use…with provisions for density, infrastructure, landscape and connectivity,” the vision read in part.
Kennett Pointe, Robitzer said, would be the “gateway” that Kennett Square needed. Now, less than two years later, the scenario that is emerging there is a spectacular reminder of what happens when imagination and opportunity converge.
Kennett Pointe’s townhouses will be sized between 1,876- and
2,285-square feet and are available in two fl oor plans. 53 ‘new urbanist’ townhomes
Spread across 13 acres on the corner of East Cypress Street and Ways Lane, the tree-lined community, now being constructed by Montchanin Builders, will feature 53 “new urbanist” townhouses that will be sized between 1,876- and 2,285-square feet. The three-bedroom, two-anda-half-bathroom homes will feature nine-foot ceilings, front porches, bay windows, a gourmet kitchen with island and granite countertops, composite decks, hardwood and tile flooring.
Home owners at Kennett Pointe will be able to choose from two floor plans, which will both offer a front entry and alley-fed two-car garages. Homes will also offer space expanding features which may include a finished basement with walk out, a fourth bedroom, den, home work space and the option of adding a loft.
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Kennett Pointe will also feature a 41,000-square-foot mixed-use building that will be located at the northern edge of the property and be visible from East Cypress Street. On its first floor, over 13,000 square feet of retail/ commercial space will be available for businesses that add value to a community, such as restaurants, boutiques, cafés, hair salons, bakeries, yoga studios, or small grocers.
On its second and third floors, the building will house 24 one- and two-bedroom apartments that will range between 910 square feet to 1,152 square feet.
Additional amenities
In addition, Kennett Pointe will provide residents and visitors with a village-like setting complete with a 6,000 square-foot plaza, Parisian-style gardens landscaped with gravel paths, a trellis, park benches, and a performance pavilion with event lawn and gazebos, where craft fairs, concerts, children’s shows and movie nights will eventually be on its social calendar.
As part of the project, Montchanin Builders is also restoring the former Italian American Club facility -- originally built in 1923 -- that will be repurposed as a membership-based pottery studio, where visitors will be able to take classes and have open studio time.
Working with Brock Vinton, Tim Jones, and Tony Ruggio of The Commonwealth Group and Montchanin Builders, Robitzer refers to his business partners as “collaborators.”
“People will be able to drive by and see that this is a really vibrant neighborhood, which helps you with your commercial tenants, it helps you with your residents and helps you with those who drive by, because they all want to be a part of something that is connected to the community,” Robitzer said. “I want to build something that my community wants to be part of. It’s important to us that this mix of housing and authentic retail spaces will enhance the community.”
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Kennett Pointe will also feature a 41,000-square-foot mixed-use building that will provide over 13,000 square feet of retail/commercial space, as well as 24 apartments.
To learn more about Kennett Pointe, visit https://montchaninbuilders.net/ communities/kennett-pointe
Kennett Collaborative contributed to this report.
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.
An overhead view of Kennett Pointe.
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