7North

"The original design and development of Bryn Mawr was an early form of TOD (Transit-Oriented Development), as were other Main Line communities that developed along the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. By re-enforcing the TOD concept in Bryn Mawr, we are reconnecting the community with its origins. By promoting transit-oriented development, there is potential to increase the number of rail riders and to realize a better return on public investment in infrastructure and services."

-Sasaki, 2009

"We tried to unite public purpose and private profit, and if you can successfully do that, in anything, you've got a winner."

-Roye Lowry, 2009 from "Arlington's Smart Growth Journey"

"The commercial success of Tokyo Station is the result of Japanese railway companies’ continuing exploration for profitable business to utilize the annex commercial facilities around station buildings. This shows the importance of managing profitable business in addition to the conventional railway business in achieving a successful TOD."

-(Tokyo, Japan) International Affairs Office, City Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Japan's TOD Guidebook, pg. 13, 2021

The following is a feasibility study around existing infrastructure and design ideas for the 7 North Hotel, incorporating modern interior design with traditional local architecture.
Since no two areas are alike, the main idea for the feasibility study is to find stations that are most similar to Bryn Mawr based on: 1) given distance from highways, hospitals, universities, and large employers and 2) population density and per capita income within the same or similar radius, and to analyze their success with lodging alternatives.

To-Do:

• College attendance ✅
• Rail Traffic ✅
• Pedestrian Traffic - inference by *personal observation ✅
• Car Traffic - traffic along Lancaster Ave. and Bryn Mawr Ave. ✅
• Bus Traffic ✅
• Employee counts, local businesses within *walking shed - inference
• PHL airport distance and ridership ✅
• Priorities

*Observations on both sides of street from parking lot on four connected streets (Lancaster Avenue, Morris Avenue, N Bryn Mawr Ave before and after turn). See attached spreadsheet.

*Walking Shed Assumption (from Northern corner at New Gulph Road and N Roberts Road) - New Gulph Road southeast to Pennswood Road, Pennswood Road / Penn Street southwest to Railroad Avenue, Railroad Avenue northwest to five points corner of S Bryn Mawr Avenue and County Line Road, County Line Road northwest past Bryn Mawr Hospital and Bryn Mawr Light Rail Station to S Roberts Road, S Roberts Road northeast to Lancaster Avenue, Lancaster Avenue southeast to N Roberts Road, N Roberts Road to Northern corncer at New Gulph Road.

Micro benefits:

• Existing traffic, hospital, theater, colleges, businesses and seasonal markets provide a natural market for the project
• Resort-qualities bring in medium- to high-net worth clientele for a relatively affordable resort experience
• Is both enhanced by local tourism and enhances regional/national tourism

Macro benefits:

• Re-establishes town as a center of commerce, education, and tourism given surroundings
• Encourages increased usage of Paoli-Thorndale line
• Social image of a town must include lodging alternatives

Priorities:

• Pedestrian safety and connectivity
• Convenience
• Anti-Fragility
• Aesthetics

Challenges

• Public pushback - NIMBY effect
• Amtrak lien
• Cost of underground parking
• 200 spaces temporarily lost during construction (see forcing points below)
• SEPTA funding issues and PAO threats
• Common ground needed between Lower Merion Township, PennDot, Amtrak, SEPTA, and possibly other parties

Study Challenges (Development of Proof of Concept)

• Comparing data across metro services, boarding vs. total vs. unique - Boarding seems to be most readily available and should give a number close to unique trips.
• Exact comparisons difficult - Note this in final draft including steps for best practices.
• Comparing solely by town can be confusing - Use radius out from local train station to determine proximity of features.
• Ticket prices can greatly affect daily traffic to local stops, but may be unlikely to affect the propensity of one to actual hotel visits given an upscale hotel.

Forcing Points - Forcing points should be considered as time contraints rather than actual threats. Most of them represent economic growth in the long-run, and will thereby benefit feasibility and profit for proposed project. In the short-run, however, they represent constraints that could possibly hinder development in the near future. So acting on this project before action is taken on other projects will be greatly beneficial to all interested parties. Some have large implications, some have much smaller, if any, implications. The point of this section is to consider all forcing points, regardless of size or impact.

• Substitute parking situation should be implemented, utilized, and completed before construction of possible 2/6/10 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue Project. The underground parking lot meant to replace Lot 7 should be operational before the mixed use project on the opposite corner begins, since that is the last remaining large source of parking overflow for existing Lot 7 Users.
• Ardmore Hotel possibility - competition during the critical first years of operation
• College closure situation (e.g. Cabrini and other metro-area schools such as Art Institute of Philadelphia). Rosemont College has announced closure. While Valley Forge College remains open, Valley Forge Academy has announced closure.
• Possibility of adverse height restrictions, similar to recent restrictions implemented in Ardmore
• Inevitable building downturn could cause funding to dry up, at least for a long business cycle
• Alternative development on Municipal Lot 7
• Increase or decrease of Harcum attendence - While a decrease could result in possible closure (see above), an increase could mean less parking spaces available for overflow during construction and Lot 7 closure
• Norristown Speed Line reopens County Line stop after improvement, opening possibility of more public transit access to Villanova from competing hotel - REOPENED 2025
• Wyndam House in Bryn Mawr College reopens, providing increased competition, although small, for the local lodging market
• Amtrak substation improvement slightly decreases local parking - BEGAN NOV. 2024
• Continued unimpeded growth in Valley Forge/King of Prussia area, in particular, a glut of new hotel and conference space

Further research:

• 30th Street Station Improvements
• Possible Philadelphia 76ers Market East project (Jefferson Station) - CANCELLED PERMANENTLY
• Line extension to Coatesville
• New Norristown speed line spur to KOP mall - on hold indefinitely due to FTA concerns
• County Line Station improvements and reopening
• Strong Towns Initiative and Transit Priorities based upon these ideas
• Growth near Radnor Station
• Urban 3 Consulting and similar
• Urbanism movement and 10 principles of intelligent urbanism
• Virginia's Bull's Eye concept around stations, in particular the Silver and Orange lines
• Nassim Taleb's concept of anti-fragility and the enhancement of this which this project brings
• Peter Calthorpe and TOD

Links: Japan's TOD: https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001398605.pdf

Jarrett Walker's Human Transit Blog: https://humantransit.org/

Possible Partnerships - representing large organizations that may be interested in employee or executive packages for corporate retreats or employee lodging during travel

Step 1: Read and interpret studies of a similar nature, preferably for hotels inside of town centers, if not available, do similar projects ( 1 week ) Step 2: Decide on a good group of test results similar to Lower Merion Township from Step 1. Based on this, some similar areas are Westfield, NJ, Princeton, NJ, Arlington, VA, Tysons, VA, Evanston, IL, Bethesda, MD, and Chapel Hill, NC. Focus is on train stops/village centers and the radius around them, not necessarily the town or city designation of the addresses. All raw data extracted for Lower Merion Township should be extracted from test markets in as comparable form as possible. Conduct as synchonous as possible duplicate studies for the test markets. ( 1 week ). New approach: inputs: college students, hospital beds, local businesses, car traffic, train station traffic output: stations most similar to Bryn Mawr analysis: hotel rooms in output towns Step 3: Examining test results and all possible metrics with closest possible comparisons.

Priorities, in order:

1. SAFETY - Concerns about past projects in Lower Merion have cited safety as a primary concern. As a busy Northeast town, Bryn Mawr already balances vehicles, trains, pedestrians (including joggers), and other modes of transporation, including bicycles and scooters. Safety, in fact, should be the primary concern in any new development, and any project should leave the existing environment safer than it was before. Some examples of this include expanded sidewalks with barriers against oncoming traffic, particularly along Lancaster Avenue, a sidewalk along North Bryn Mawr Avenue East to complete the interior sidewalk system around the property, the pedestrian tunnel from the train station (sheltered walk from traincar to hotel room, free of elements or vehicle traffic), and possible crosswalks at the Northwest tip of North Bryn Mawr Avenue (near Santander Bank and Parvin's Pharmacy).
2. CONVENIENCE - Given the current lack of any hotel space (excluding VRBO, AirBNB, and some guesthouse-style lodging) along Route 30 from City Avenue to 476, and given the abundance of educational, cultural, entertainment, retail, corporate, and health organizations within this corridor, Bryn Mawr and surrounding areas are due for hotel space, especially from a mixed-use perspective. Lot 7 is a central location easily accessible by car from I-476 (Blue Route), US-30 (Lancaster Ave.), Montgomery Ave., Haverford Rd. and Bryn Mawr Ave. It is accessible by rail, being connected to the Paoli-Thorndale Bryn Mawr Station, within walking distance of the M Route Bryn Mawr South Station (Norristown Speed Line), a short distance from the Ardmore Amtrak Station, and adjacent to a new high-power substation that will increase regular and punctual train schedules and further enable a possible coast-to-coast high speed rail line in the future. It fronts two bus stops for two different bus lines (Route 105 and Route 106). It stands adjacent to a proposed improved bike route along Morris Avenue. And it sees regular foot traffic in all directions throughout the day. Public underground parking, while initially expensive, will provide steady revenue and should reduce the need for unsightly above-ground parking in adjacent areas as density in the immediate area increases.
3. ANTI-FRAGILITY - Properties must evolve. Transportation preferences change over time, and while a transit-oriented design is in focus, any surplus area should be available for quick conversion to alternative means. For example, parking spaces can expand or contract given market contraction or expansion. This future-proofing of the valuable underground "flex" space will support both increases and decreases in driving habits, as well as provide shared parking to other nearby facilities, including downtown retail and Bryn Mawr train station.
4. AESTHETICS - By preserving a traditional but unique Main Line exterior and developing a modern minimalist interior we will be able to attract and retain local, national, and international clientele.

-While these are prioritized in order, it is fair to assume that all are equally necessary from a purely going-concern basis.

Definitely: "old and the new"- outside (old) existing architectural styles of historic Main Line structures, inside (new) -modern, Asian-influenced, feng shui, modern Tokyo, Bangkok, Seoul structures, minimalist, luxurious, practical terrace idea elevator top floor year-round marketplace to embrace and improve (and in no way impede) Bryn Mawr Farmer's Market and Clover Market

Maybe: conical or octagon roof at beveled corners Atrium for Pool 2 area, retractable? if permanently outdoor, provide alternative winter use for covered pool area, not just plastic cover

Maybe not: arched fiberglass walks

Rendering Ideas, research capabilities and cost:

1. AutoCad
2. Revit
3. SketchUp