Steeple View Plans Approved in Newtown Borough

Plans for Steeple View, a mixed-use development slated for South State Street, have been approved by Newtown Borough Council.

Council approved the plans at a meeting Tuesday by a 4-1 vote, with Bob King dissenting. Last week, the plans received final approval from the borough's Planning Commission. 

The Steeple View project features a three-story, mixed-use building that will likely feature a new state wine and spirits store as well as residential units.

The plans feature an approximately 11,000-square foot liquor store on the ground floor with 13 condos on two upper levels. According to representatives for the applicant, construction will take eight to 12 months to complete once ground is broken.

Developer Allan Smith, who owns the current state store property on Centre Avenue, is seeking to relocate the store. Smith said a lease has been signed for the new State Store and has been submitted to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

But according to the Newtown Advance, Smith has not heard back from the PLCB regarding that lease.

That uncertainty is what caused Council member King to vote against the project. Just this month, Governor Tom Corbett announced plans to privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania.

If the state store does not in fact occupy the ground floor of the Steeple View development, King said he feared too many variances were being granted to accommodate the needs of the PLCB.

"If it’s not going to be a state store, I’m not so sure it’s something we would necessarily want to leave as it is now," he said.  

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