Construction Revs Up on $14M Suburban Condo

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ARDMORE, PA-A partnership between Wayne-based Strategic Realty Investments LLC and Vaughan & Sons Builders has broken ground on Cambridge Square, a five-story, 28-unit residential condominium. It is seen as a model for Strategic Realty’s ongoing focus on infill locations, particularly “brownfield” sites, in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Cambridge Square is going up at 120 Sibley Ave., site of an 1800s icehouse that’s within walking distance of the Suburban Square shopping center and Septa rail line. “It was a largely vacant brownfield site containing a deteriorating structure,” Peter Monaghan, Strategic Realty’s chief investment officer, tells GlobeSt.com. “We cleaned up the site and razed the building.”

Monaghan says the all-in project cost, including the land and cleanup, is about $14 million. He anticipates a sellout in the $20-million range. Cambridge Square is scheduled for completion in fall 2007.

The new building will consist of two parking floors, one below ground and another at ground level, with four stories of condos above. The two-bedroom, two-bath units range from 1,432 sf to 2,170 sf and encompass seven floor plans. Prices begin in the high $500,000 range and reach to the low $900,000s.

“Ardmore has been ripe for a new residential project for a long time” Chip Vaughan, president of Vaughan & Sons, says in a press release. His firm previously developed Springhouse in Newtown Square and Brooke Farm in Radnor among other area residential communities.

“While there’s a proliferation of condos in Center City, there are very few in the Main Line suburbs,” Monaghan says, “and we believe there’s demand for product within a 20-minute train ride from Philadelphia. Proximity to Suburban Square is a bonus.”

Strategic Realty’s other area projects are Ambler Crossings in Ambler and Ardmore Crossings. “We’re working on obtaining a couple of other suburban Philadelphia sites,” he says without identifying their locations.