One of Bucks County's newest luxury housing communities, with one of the most recognizable locations, is now open to homebuyers on the hunt. But it will cost you for the Lahaska address, the quick walk to Peddler's Village and new construction.
Builder Stonehaven Homes,of Devon in Chester County, is selling the first phase of its Village Crossing in Buckingham Township, directly across Route 202 from Peddler's Village, one of Bucks' top tourist destinations and a favorite of locals, too.
The new housing development is being built on the land of the former Penn's Purchase, a failed retail outlet center that sat vacant for many years after stores closed one by one. The stores were demolished and the homes will be constructed.
The sale of the units
comes about five years after Buckingham Township approved mixed-use redevelopment plan for the site. The plan calls for 18 luxury single-family homes, starting at $1.9 million, and 18 luxury condos, starting at $1 million, according to the developer.
Stonehaven began marketing earlier this fall for the first phase of the housing. These homes can include four to six bedrooms and 2.5 to 5.5 bathrooms, according to the website.
"Most homes back to preserved open space and have views of Buckingham Mountain in scenic Bucks County, PA. Maintenance free living," the website reads.
In addition to the housing, the plans also call for two mixed-use buildings with 16,420 square feet of retail/commercial space and the restoration of an old Victorian home into four apartments on a total of about 14 acres.
Builder John McGrath III, president of Stonehaven Homes, called the project "a once in a lifetime opportunity" to develop a prime piece of Bucks County real estate given its proximity to nationally known Peddler's Village.
McGrath paid $3.5 million for the 14.2-acre property in December 2017, according to Bucks County property records. He has built homes throughout the Philadelphia suburbs, including in Langhorne, Newtown and other towns in Bucks. His father, John McGrath Jr., is also a longtime homebuilder with projects throughout the county.
The project will replace what had become a ghost town of old shops in the former Penn's Purchase Factory Stores, an outlet village opened in the 1990s that has sat dormant and empty, a literal shell of the outlet village it was in the 1990, at one time including Coach, Bass & Co., Brooks Brothers and OshKosh.
While Peddler's Village has thrived and is one of Bucks County's top tourist destinations with 2 million visitors annually, the retail shops faltered.
As time wore on, the center fell into disrepair, with pipes bursting and a building collapse.
Cohen Equities, of New York City, bought the property at auction in 2014 after its foreclosure, but never redeveloped it. McGrath bought it years later and ushered the development plan through approvals and now sales and construction.
The new project will also "significantly" reduce traffic from the site's former use as a 100,000-square-foot shopping center, McGrath said.
Once complete, developers will have also restored about 4.5 acres of green space on the site while most homes will back to or have views of preserved open space and Buckingham Mountain, McGrath said last year. The project will also increase tax revenue to the township by seven times, he added.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: New homes now for sale across from Peddler's Village. Here's the plan
