Upper Dublin board approves conditional‑use for mixed‑use Prudential site on Dryden Road

The Upper Dublin Township Board of Commissioners approved conditional‑use application 2627200 on Jan. 13 for a mixed‑use development on the former Prudential site at Welsh and Dryden roads.

Developer witnesses testified the project would reuse roughly 90 acres adjacent to the Montgomery Corporate Center and the Pennsylvania Turnpike and include apartments, stacked townhouses, a senior living facility, hotel, office and retail. "The property sits adjacent to the Montgomery corporate center... contains approximately 90 acres," said Michael Markman, president of BET Investments, who said the apartment component remains 600 units but was reconfigured from three buildings to two with a central parking garage and a clubhouse with indoor and outdoor pools.

Experts for the applicant presented specific compliance measures. Site civil engineer Eric Clace told the board the plan provides five uses — commercial, residential, office, institutional and municipal — and keeps residential under the maximum allowed density: "We're at 766 units... We're not even close" to the theoretical maximum, he testified. Clace said the plan proposes 13.18 acres of open space, about two acres more than the 10% requirement, and 3,984 parking spaces versus 3,216 required.

Traffic consultant Nicole Klein said the submission included an evaluation of 16 intersections and a package of on‑ and off‑site commitments intended to mitigate impacts. Those commitments include a widened through lane on Welsh Road at Jarrettown Road, Dresher/Dreshertown Road phase‑2 support and contributions toward Twining Road multimodal and calming improvements. Klein said the applicant will not be proposing new traffic signals on Welsh Road but will modernize existing signalized intersections.

Several residents raised concerns during public comment. Deborah Gagan asked that trees be preserved and that the retention basin not increase runoff toward adjacent homes. Thomas Maher pressed the developer on loading docks and called attention to large delivery trucks occasionally stopping near playgrounds at existing Promenade properties; Markman and the applicant's team said loading docks will be provided in the new development and described past incidents at the existing Promenade as operational problems with specific carriers.

Architect Michael McCluskey described building facades and massing, saying only a limited portion of the project would reach the 75‑foot height allowed under the ordinance and that most apartments would be 60 feet. Planner John H. Kennedy said the proposal extends the existing promenade pattern, buffers larger massing centrally, preserves wetland areas and meets conditional‑use standards in the ordinance.

After discussion the board moved, seconded and approved the conditional‑use application; the chair said the solicitor will prepare a written decision. The record before the board included review letters from township engineering, zoning and traffic consultants and a Montgomery County Planning Commission review. The applicant had previously received a planning commission recommendation to proceed to the conditional‑use hearing.

Next procedural step: the board directed the solicitor to draft the written decision memorializing the vote and any conditions discussed during the hearing.