Post World War II Real Estate Developments

Commercial Centers and Notable Occupants (with original owner or developer and year of development):

The Office Park (sometimes referred to as “Fort Washington District”)

initial industrial activities prior to the Industrial Park

Hoopes & Townsend Steel Co., organized in 1901, operated a steel mill (called Hoopes Townsend Steel Mill); it went into receivership in 1925 and may have survived for a time thereafter in Upper Dublin before finally shutting down in the 1930s. NEEDS CITE

Walter J. Combs-Need content?????

Columbia Steel Equipment Co., acquired by SPS (Standard Pressed Steel, of Jenkintown) and renamed Columbia-Hallowell Division of Standard Press Steel in 1953, may have been liquidated in 1959 (NEEDS CITE)

Board Approves Industrial Center, Philadelphia Inquirer, p. 11 (May 14, 1954): “A proposed $20,000,000 industrial center at Fort Washington has been approved by the Upper Dublin Township Commissioners. The 175-acre [site] was rezoned for the industrial development. The center is expected to contain up to 40 light manufacturing plants. The commissioners will screen applicants for the site in order to prevent undue noise and air pollution. The center will be situated on the former site of the Hoopes Townsend Steel Mill. It is opposite both the Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Co. stations. Plans for the center were announced by Philip S. Seltzer, owner of the tract.”

300-Acre Tract Being Developed, Phila. Inquirer, Oct. 14, 1955, at p. 56 (when fully developed, will have value in excess of $60 million, and “business population” of 25,000 to 30,000); North Penn Review, p. 3 (Feb. 8, 1956—check date (referencing Seltzer-Delaware Valley Industrial Properties)???

One of the largest post-1954 industrial developments was the Honeywell plant at 1100 Virginia Drive, that operated from 1964 to 1986. (The property is now owned by 1100 Virginia Drive Associates) After that, the building was leased by both Honeywell and DeVry University. US EPA, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Report of the Remediation, System Evaluation Site Visit (5102 G), EPA 542-F-04-025 (July 4, 2003) (Per NICHE, in 2023 DeVry’s campus then enrolled 38 undergraduate and 98 graduate students)

Despite the ambitions to turn the -prone orchard site that the Seltzers first wanted to develop into a 1950’s residential development, only to decide that an industrial park would work better, the topographical issues that favored plantings accessed through quiet older residential neighborhoods over buildings of any type have remained a challenge to this date, as exemplified by the following:

U.S. Dep’t of Housing & Urban Development, Federal Insurance Administration, Flood Insurance Study, Township of Upper Dublin, Montgomery County, (July 1978) (noting major flooding events had occurred in 1955, 1972 and 1973)

Donna Shaw, Keeping Neighbors Satisfied, Philadelphia Inquirer, p. N12 (May 12, 1983) (Philip Seltzer appears at meeting to discuss controlling traffic on Camp Hill Road)

Upper Dublin Environmental Advisory Committee, The Sandy Run may be the County’s most troubled stream (Minutes, 1985)

National Weather Service, [Hurricane Floyd], About: Storm Episode NWS 2414394 (undated 1989) (“In Upper Dublin Township, 100 residents and 65 children were evacuated after water overflowed from the top of the Loch Alsh Reservoir….About 75 persons were rescued from flood waters in Upper Dublin and Springfield Townships, many in the Fort Washington interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.”)

Kristen E. Holmes, Once-forsaken office center, revitalized, seeing better days, Inquirer, p. C01 (June 6, 2001)

Al (Wulff Associates), Strategic Master Planning Report for the Fort Washington Business Campus (Aug. 2005), prepared for Upper Dublin Board of Commissioners (its analysis and recommendations at listed at pp. 20-24 of the Coleshill Associates Assessment).

Montgomery County, 2007 Hazard Mitigation Plan

Jillian Bauer, Upper Dublin denies Celebrations project, Ambler Gazette, May 29, 2007, and complaint filed in Danny Jake v. Upper Dublin Bd., of Commissioners, No. 2007- 19303 (C.P. Montgomery Cty.), later discontinued, involving proposal for large housing development off of Camp Hill Rd. on the south side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike

Fort Washington Area Flooding and Transportation Improvement Study (Dec. 31, 2008), at pp. D-1 and 2 (Final Report Prepared by Center for Sustainable Communities, Temple University, edited by Lynn Mandarano, PE, PhD)

Kyle Bagenstose, [Video Update] Township Recounts Water Rescues, Flooding, PATCH.com, Sept. 8, 2011, updated Sept. 9, 2011

Flooding and Stormwater Management Plan for Ambler Area Watersheds, Center for Sustainable Communities, Temple University Ambler, Dec. 2014

“History of The Fort Washington Office Center” in Coleshill Associates, Assessment of Market and Development Potential of Fort Washington Office Center, Appendix D to Fort Washington Area (July 10, 2015)

Fort Washington Fire Company receives Swiftwater Flood certification, Santa Run set for Dec 22, Glenside Local, Dec. 13, 2024

The Ft. Washington Industrial Park was considered the first industrial park in the United States, inspiring similar developments elsewhere, but the claim to be the first is disputable.

A detailed plan in the late 1950's by the Wissahickon Watershed Assn. and the County Conservation District 1960 for an Act 566 "small watershed dry reservoir" was scrapped during the 1960's to provide more space for the Park. Ultimately, Upper Dublin reversed its hostility to the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association. See Josh Raulerson, interviewer, Pennsylvania Legacies #64: A Tale of Two Townships (interview of Upper Dublin Manager Paul Leonard and Lower Gwynedd Supervisor Mark Grey, podcast, Jan. 12, 2018; Diane Mastrull, Office-space see-saw effect, Phila. Inquirer, Dec. 15, 2009, at p. E01:

As the transition pattern has gone for at least the last 10 years, Upper Dublin’s Fort Washington office complex gains a tenant, often from one of Horsham’s office parks. What soon follows is a win for Horsham: A defector from Upper Dublin moves in.…. Jim Mazzarrelli, senior vice president and regional director at Liberty Property, which owns 2.7 million square feet of commercial space in Horsham and 1 million in Ft. Washington: “The advent of [the Turnpike’s] improved infrastructure brought these two markets almost into one.…” Taxes aren’t drastically different either. Upper Dublin’s property-tax rate is slightly higher than Horsham’s—the owner of a property worth $200,000 would pay about $300 more annually.

And the following reports:

Urban Partners, URS, Smith & Porter, McMahon, Sustainable Revitalization of the Fort Washington Office Park, Upper Dublin/Whitemarsh Township, PA, Draft Report (June 2011)

Upper Dublin takes steps to construct dams, Ambler Gazette (Nov. 14, 2012)-were these the same that were proposed for federal funding two decades before?

Upper Dublin Twp., Community Visioning for Fort Washington Village (2017)

Avison Young, Suburban Philadelphia Market Flash Report: New Zoning Prompts Private Investment and Development in Fort Washington Office Park (2019)

Natalie Kosteini, Move Over, King of Prussia: Building on KOP’s Explosive Growth, Horsham and Upper Dublin Townships are Fast Becoming Development Hotbeds with Multiple Projects in the Works and More on the Way, Philadelphia Business Journal (Jan. 10, 2020)

Upper Dublin Township, Critical Connections Summary (updated March 18, 2022)

Upper Dublin has regularly developed and updated its comprehensive plan, most recently in 2025. Wissahickon Now gets very ‘Comprehensive’ on Upper Dublin’s plans for 2025 and beyond, NOW.com (undated).

Upper Dublin’s Other Commercial Centers

Montgomery Corporate Center 2016 (BT Dryden, BET)

Upper Dublin Shopping Center 1961(Upper Dublin Company, now General Auto Corp., a Goodman Properties company)

Dreshertown Plaza-1977 (Blue Ridge Real Estate, now --------)

George’s (originally Dreshertown Shop ‘N Bag-1977 (George Endrigian)

Maple Glen Shopping Center-1969 (Genuardi Supermarkets), then Safeway (owner of Giant Supermarkets), now owned by BET

Fairway Shopping Center-1964? (Robert Saligman), then Acme, now ----

Acme Opens New Supermart, Philadelphia Inquirer, p.12 (May 22, 1958)

Upper Dublin Professional Center-1978 (Upper Dublin Center, Inc.)

Prudential Insurance -1978, site now owned by BET

Upper Dublin to Study Traffic Problems in Prudential’s Project, Philadelphia Inquirer (March 6, 1969) In 1982 the Montgomery County Planning Commission presented an Award of Special recognition for Prudential’s design of this property.

BET’s anticipated Conversion of Prudential Insurance three-building call and data center on Welsh Rd (frontage between Turnpike and Dreshertown Rd.) by BET (The Prudential property was itself a 1978 conversion of the property from Willow Crest-Bamberger Home for Convalescents (originally named Willow Creek), a home for the Jewish aged that opened in 1929 (Second Century of Montgomery County, at p. 671) that closed at that location just after the end of World War II).

Some Present Tenants within Ft. Washington Office Center (insert dates of occupancy):

Toll Brothers

McMahon

Westrum

Timoney Knox

TruMark

Kulicke & Soffa

Apex Ft Washington (owner?, not tenant?)

Lincoln Investment Planning

Nutrisystem

Best Western (1973) (formerly Coach Inn)

ACTS (founded by Church of the Open Door) Acts was ranked third on the 2024 LeadingAge Ziegler 200 list of largest not-for-profit multi-site senior living organizations, having more than 10,000 total units. The company has more than 7,000 employees, according to its website

LA Fitness

Temple University

Lifetime Fitness

Operating Engineers

Fox Lane Homes

Friedman Schuman

Rosen Moss Snyder LLP

Weinstein Law Firm LLC

State Sen. Maria Collett -2023 (first legislator to have office in Upper Dublin since State Rep. Eugene McGill maintained office in Maple Glen during his tenure, 1995-1998)-check dates

The Expo Center-its arrival and demise (1993-2006)

Discuss-get news articles

CD NOW (the short-life span of a music distribution enterprise developed by two young Upper Dublin residents in the late 1990s, acquired by Bertelsmann and superseded by newer technology in the 2000s)