RIVERVIEW LANDING at VALLEY FORGE                        

RIVERVIEW LANDING at Valley Forge Apartments – Phase One

1776 Patriots Lane, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

330 Units – Rental – 1, 2  & 3 bedroom flats and double height loft apartments

 

Project:     The property, consisting of 65 acres located near Valley Forge National Park  facing the Schuylkill River with an associated regional river edge bike and walking trail.  The Phase One development included six four story apartment buildings of 330 units (411,000 SF) of the initially planned 600 units and a 5,000 SF Clubhouse with outdoor swimming pool.  Nearby is 4,000 acres of the national Valley Forge parklands system.

 

The overall master planned property includes the former silent film studios of Sigmund Lubin that has been restored into 54,000 SF of office-retail-restaurants to serve the overall residential community.

 

The waterfront lands used for the Phase One apartment development required ‘Brownfield’ environmental abatement and cleanup and abatement of existing industrial buildings prior to their demolition to prepare the site for construction.

 

Extensive local master plan permitting was necessary and off-site traffic and sewer improvements proceeded the extensive on-site utility and access road improvements.  

 

GDHA-Services:       GDHarley & Associates represented the equity investor, Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) providing due diligence services prior to the loan closing, monthly due diligence inspections and attendance at the monthly DRAW meeting with the lender, developer and contractor representatives during the construction phase, and project-close out reviews prior to sale of the property to an institutional buyer.

 

Project Design-Construction: The total project involved six four story plus loft level residential buildings constructed over a parking garage.

 

The project was constructed on a former ‘Brown Field’ property requiring environmental abatement in combination with a waterfront 100 year flood plain requiring compliance with the US Army Corps of Engineers ‘Flood Proofing Requirements’.  The entire site received soil compaction using earth surcharge plus DDC (deep dynamic compaction) procedures thereby allowing use of shallow spread footings with isolated internal column footings for each building. 

 

All apartment buildings employed flexible gas piping between the central meter room and each risers to serve the apartments above.  Some flexible water piping was also employed.  The entire project meets the NFPA 13 fire protection requirements in the garages and R13 requirements for all apartment levels and attic spaces. 

 

The project included off-site traffic improvements and construction of sewer and water utilities and natural gas service extensions to serve the project.  

 

The Phase One site plan and adjacent access roads have been planned to allow development of the adjacent Phase Two residential apartment parcel to start construction in late 2006.

 

Project Status:   The project has been completed and sold to an institutional buyer.

 

Project Design-Construction-Credits:

 

Developer:                                O’Neill Properties with Princewood Buckingham, LLC

Owner:                                      Riverview Residential I, LLC

Equity Investor Partner:           Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI)

3rd Party Consultant-

Investor's Representative:       Garry D Harley-GDHarley & Associates, Inc.

Lender:                                      Bank of America

Contractor:                               Capstone Building Corp.

Architect:                                  Minno & Wasco Architects & Planners

MEP Engineer:                         Associated Engineering Consultants

Structural Engineer:                 Associated Engineering Consultants

Geotechnical Engineer:           SESI Consulting Engineers & David Blackmore & Associates

Civil Engineer:                          Momenee & Associates

Landscape Architect:               Melillo & Bauer Associates

Owner’s Interior Designer:      Jillian Pritchard Cooke; President - DESIGNSYNERGY

Owner’s Materials

Testing Consultant:                  David Blackmore & Associates, Inc.

Owner’s Peer Review

Structural Engineer:                 Pennoni Associates, Inc.

PREI Life Safety Consultant:    Michael F. Laffey & Associates

 

Brief Project Technical Description:

 

• 1 Bedroom – 1 Bath Flat - 5 Models from 769 to 883 SF with Balcony

• 1 Bedroom – 1 Bath Loft - 4 Models from 754 to 972 SF with Balcony

• 2 Bedroom – 2 Bath Flat - 12 Models from 1031 SF to 1276 SF with Balcony

• 2 Bedroom – 2 Bath Loft - 6 Models from 1155 SF to 1347 SF with Balcony

• 3 Bedroom – 2 Bath Flat - 3 Models from 1331 SF to 1347 SF with Balcony

• Garage under all six apartment buildings was constructed of steel beams, columns and poured-in-place concrete deck (metal deck with composite ‘Nelson Stud’ engineering design).

• Garage exterior walls are constructed of grouted reinforced CMU with brick facing

• Apartment building were constructed of wood frame using some pre-prefabricated wall components

• Facades are brick with vinyl siding

• Windows are single hung vinyl frames with uniform window horizontal blind sun protection

• Roofs are prefabricated wood trusses with asphalt shingles

• Balconies are pressure treated wood planking with aluminum railings

• Superstructure framing includes flat wood trusses for suspended floors with plywood subfloors and Gypcrete topping

• Hydro-therm ducted type Apartment HVAC system, gas fired heating, electric cooling

• Apartment kitchen and entries are wood laminate flooring

• Stainless steel appliances, plastic laminate counters, some units have direct vented gas fired fireplaces

• Tenant Amenities includes 5,000 SF Clubhouse with fitness room, community rooms, business center  and exterior heated swimming pool & spa, protected enclosed parking garages with assigned parking spaces and close proximity to a regional bike and walking trail and Route 422 highway connecting to Philadelphia and points north into Bucks County