Party may be over for The Lagoon
JEFF GELMAN, Times Correspondent
02/21/2007
TINICUM -- Hotspot nightclub and bar The Lagoon may be closing to make way for 248 townhouses and condos, township officials said last night. There is an agreement of sale with Strategic Realty to shutter the popular destination on the waterfront in Essington and transform the site into one- and two-bedroom residential units, said Township Manager David Schreiber.
"Their preliminary plan looked pretty nice," he said.
The concept for the roughly nine-acre lot was given a thumbs up by Commissioners President Thomas Giancristoforo Jr.
"I think it’s a lot better than what’s there now." Giancristoforo was responding to resident Zurdi Dobi’s concern about a dramatic population increase in the township should construction take place.
Township officials stressed that the plan was "very preliminary." The developer would have to go through three or four township meetings before potentially receiving approval, which could take years, they said.
A woman who answered the phone at The Lagoon Tuesday night declined to comment, saying, "There’s nobody here to talk to about it (tonight). As far as we know, it’s not sold."
The Lagoon remains open, she added.
Formerly known as Walbers on the Delaware and briefly serving as a nightclub called Boomerangs, the Lagoon opened in 1994. The only location with a riverfront deck that offered a nightclub, restaurant and hotel on premises, The Lagoon quickly became the number one nightspot in Delaware County. Over the years, it attracted rock concerts, weddings and boxing matches -- even a celebrity fight featuring former figure skater Tanya Harding.
Among the necessary moves that must be made to potentially transform the location into housing are a traffic study and an analysis of whether utilities, such as water and sewer, could handle such an increased capacity, Schreiber said.
The proposed development would not be age-restricted housing. However, because the units would be relatively small, Schreiber said, the potential developers said they weren’t expecting a large amount of children to live there.
Preconstruction cost was estimated in the "low $200,000" range, according to officials. Schreiber did indicate that price could increase dramatically once the units were actually built.
©DelcoTimes 2007
