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Me and my husband first moved to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh back in the 80s and built a house over on Roberts Road off Sawmill. We loved Ntwn Square so much. It felt removed from the chaos of the Main Line but we felt like we could still get to all the amenities very easily. What we loved most of all was the thick forrest and farmlands that lined 252. Especially during the fall when the leaves were changing, driving down 252 was so breathtaking. Almost straight out of New England. With Newtown Square, you felt like you lived on the Main Line but also felt like you lived in the country.
My husband got transferred back to Pittsburgh but we ended back in Philly in 1995. We ended up settling in St. Davids. Better school district for our kids in Radnor. We have been here every since. There are times where I miss our old Newtown Square house. But nowadays, I am so happy with our living situation. Newtown Square is a mess!
Liseter =
Ellis Preserve =
Don't get me wrong. I am all for development. Downtown Ntwn Square definitely needed some revitalization. But not to this scale. I feel it all started with the construction of the new Episcopal Academy campus. While not the most attractive, the EA campus is a great edition. But ever since its development, I feel as if a negative domino effect has followed. I don't know if its zoning laws or whatever but the development has gone overboard. 252 is not even recognizable anymore. Liseter is maybe the ugliest community I have ever seen. Cookie cutter homes by poor quality Toll Brothers. All that beautiful farmland destroyed.
And now the Ellis Preserve. They are building single family homes next to the SAP headquarters. Makes absolutely no sense at ALL!
They are literally chopping down every single tree! I didn't know Ntwn Square was the new LA or Houston.
I think the new Wawa and Whole Foods are amazing editions. BTW, what is taking the Whole Foods so long? I do however miss the beautiful trees that lined Winding Way.
Sorry for my rant but what is up with Newtown Square? Why so much overdevelopment? I feel that Ntwn Square is losing the quaint charm it once had. It used to be the place where those who wanted to be near the Main Line could still feel removed. But now, it just feels like a continuation of the same, where beautiful farms are replaced with ugly industrial modern apartment building.
I tried avoiding the bumper to bumper traffic on 476 last week around rush hour. I took 252. Bad Mistake.
It was a crawl from a mile north of Rt 30 all the way down to Route 1 in Media. A 10-15 minute commute took an hour.
South of Liseter(Old John Dupont Estate) across Goshen Rd the owner of Franklin Mint owned a Big House on 50 acres. He sold that - moved to Beverly Hills . They turned that tract into a development of upscale $2M- $3M homes. A couple of the Phillies lived there. Hamels + Halladay.
It still fairly undeveloped just west of Newtown Square as you head into Chester County. Willistown, East Goshen,White Horse,Sugartown etc .. And thankfully Ridley Creek State Park should remain untouched.
The traffic which was bad around NS is becoming untenable. These old narrow country roads werent built to handle mass traffic.
Me and my husband first moved to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh back in the 80s and built a house over on Roberts Road off Sawmill. We loved Ntwn Square so much. It felt removed from the chaos of the Main Line but we felt like we could still get to all the amenities very easily. What we loved most of all was the thick forrest and farmlands that lined 252. Especially during the fall when the leaves were changing, driving down 252 was so breathtaking. Almost straight out of New England. With Newtown Square, you felt like you lived on the Main Line but also felt like you lived in the country.
My husband got transferred back to Pittsburgh but we ended back in Philly in 1995. We ended up settling in St. Davids. Better school district for our kids in Radnor. We have been here every since. There are times where I miss our old Newtown Square house. But nowadays, I am so happy with our living situation. Newtown Square is a mess!
Liseter =
Ellis Preserve =
Don't get me wrong. I am all for development. Downtown Ntwn Square definitely needed some revitalization. But not to this scale. I feel it all started with the construction of the new Episcopal Academy campus. While not the most attractive, the EA campus is a great edition. But ever since its development, I feel as if a negative domino effect has followed. I don't know if its zoning laws or whatever but the development has gone overboard. 252 is not even recognizable anymore. Liseter is maybe the ugliest community I have ever seen. Cookie cutter homes by poor quality Toll Brothers. All that beautiful farmland destroyed.
And now the Ellis Preserve. They are building single family homes next to the SAP headquarters. Makes absolutely no sense at ALL!
They are literally chopping down every single tree! I didn't know Ntwn Square was the new LA or Houston.
I think the new Wawa and Whole Foods are amazing editions. BTW, what is taking the Whole Foods so long? I do however miss the beautiful trees that lined Winding Way.
Sorry for my rant but what is up with Newtown Square? Why so much overdevelopment? I feel that Ntwn Square is losing the quaint charm it once had. It used to be the place where those who wanted to be near the Main Line could still feel removed. But now, it just feels like a continuation of the same, where beautiful farms are replaced with ugly industrial modern apartment building.
Considering I am probably oldest poster here I can tell you that Newtown Sq was just a small strip of stores along Rt 3/ West Chester Pike 50 years ago. Once you got past it there was nothing but farm land, along W. Chester Pike, all the way to W. Goshen and then to West Chester. Things started to change significantly, along Rt 3 in the early 90s. So now, as you are seeing the awful, imo, continuence of that.
I tried avoiding the bumper to bumper traffic on 476 last week around rush hour. I took 252. Bad Mistake.
It was a crawl from a mile north of Rt 30 all the way down to Route 1 in Media. A 10-15 minute commute took an hour.
South of Liseter(Old John Dupont Estate) across Goshen Rd the owner of Franklin Mint owned a Big House on 50 acres. He sold that - moved to Beverly Hills . They turned that tract into a development of upscale $2M- $3M homes. A couple of the Phillies lived there. Hamels + Halladay.
It still fairly undeveloped just west of Newtown Square as you head into Chester County. Willistown, East Goshen,White Horse,Sugartown etc .. And thankfully Ridley Creek State Park should remain untouched.
The traffic which was bad around NS is becoming untenable. These old narrow country roads werent built to handle mass traffic.
Nowadays it's easily bumper to bumper anytime on 476. How do people stand it day after day as part of their commute?
Traffic is pretty much uniformly bad in all major Philadelphia suburbs; Newtown Square is no exception. So that you are just going to have to get over.
I think the development in Newtown Sq was inevitable. You have the highly desirable Media area to the South/East, and the desirable Main Line communities to North, and beautiful Chester County to the East.
I wouldn’t say Newtown Square is particularly overdeveloped (take a drive to KoP), it certainly has grown exponentially within the past decade, most of the new development is super high-end too, $1M+ homes. Whats amazing though is that all of these developments are selling out quickly, and to young families, amazing that a young family has a $1M to drop on a home.
I do not like the Toll Brothers development because they tried to cram in as many homes as they could onto that site, the Ellis Preserve Town Center I think is fantastic, but I do not like the hundreds of townhomes and apartments they are building next to it (that works in KoP, but not Newtown Sq).
There are however some gorgeous new developments within the township, Worthing, Harrison Estates, White Horse Estates. They are all $2M+ homes, but very well done communities, not just slapped up sticks like Liseter.
I do agree with you point a little bit, because it’s always sad to see an area grow into a mega-suburb, but you must choose your poison… areas change and grow, and that is a sign ofa healthy region, if you want the area to remain the same way it was in 1980,then it’s not going to be a very desirable area.
I hear the same argument about Media, that it’s no longer “everyone’s hometown”which I think is stupid because Media is by far the most active and bustlingand well-kept its every been! That not only adds more families (well to dofamilies), but more customers, more business, more tax dollars, more people invested in the community. It kind of defeats the purpose of Media’s slogan when old bags complain about newcomers and fancy homes, shouldn’t these additions be welcomed rather then threatened? What are the other alternatives?
I grew up in Springfield, DELCO, in the 60's, and 70's, so am familiar with that area. It has really changed, and not for the better. Don't get me wrong, you can still get a nice home, in a nice neighborhood, but the area has really urbanized, and not in a good way. A lot of people I know who grew up in Delco, now live in Chester County like I do so as to get away from the city like madness.
I try to stay out of Delco as much as possible, as I really have no reason to go there anymore.
I grew up in Springfield, DELCO, in the 60's, and 70's, so am familiar with that area. It has really changed, and not for the better. Don't get me wrong, you can still get a nice home, in a nice neighborhood, but the area has really urbanized, and not in a good way. A lot of people I know who grew up in Delco, now live in Chester County like I do so as to get away from the city like madness.
I try to stay out of Delco as much as possible, as I really have no reason to go there anymore.
This makes no sense to me... I think people have trouble opening their minds to growth. Philadelphia is a major city in a major metropolitan area, its not 1970, houses get built, populations increase, people are born, shopping centers are built, highways expand, that is part of keeping up with the times. This whole "good old days" attitude of the general store and small town USA does not apply anymore, especially not in Philadelphia or any major US city.
The fact that you are comparing 1970 Delaware County to 2017 Delaware County and you are saddened by the "urbanization" is a laughable argument altogether. Point out one suburb in any major city that looks the same in 2017 as it did in 1970....
As a born and raised Delaware County native, I do not see the county going downhill. I see the older "urban" suburbs (Ridley, Secane, Aldan, etc.) slowing going downhill, while the nicer areas (Media, Upper Providence, Garnet Valley, Newtown Square, etc.) become more and more attractive to live, then you have the middle ground towns like Brookhaven, Aston, Boothwyn which could go either way.
I don't understand what you want? If you are hinting at an overflow from Philadelphia that may be a different argument, but if you are complaining about the growth of a suburb, then I don't know what to tell you... maybe move to North Dakota? Chester County won't be fluffy countryside forever, welcome to 2017.
In order for major metro areas to continue to thrive, they need to accommodate growth. That means additional housing.
I get that many folks, particularly those accustomed to large-lot countryside living, aren't necessarily fans of dense, townhome developments, but what kind of development preserves the most land? It's certainly not 2-acre lot McMansions.
The suburbs need as much mixed-use, dense development as possible (preferably in already developed areas and adjacent to transit) to preserve EXACTLY the lush and bucolic countryside that everyone claims to treasure.
Also, Liseter is FAR better thought-out and well-done (designed as a traditional neighborhood development) than the vast majority of suburban tract developments in most of the US (preserves much more land than you probably realize, and also offers housing type diversity), so believe it or not, it's a good model going forward.
In order for major metro areas to continue to thrive, they need to accommodate growth. That means additional housing.
I get that many folks, particularly those accustomed to large-lot countryside living, aren't necessarily fans of dense, townhome developments, but what kind of development preserves the most land? It's certainly not 2-acre lot McMansions.
The suburbs need as much mixed-use, dense development as possible (preferably adjacent to transit) to preserve EXACTLY the lush and bucolic countryside that everyone claims to treasure.
Also, Liseter is FAR better thought-out and well-done (designed as a traditional neighborhood development) than the vast majority of suburban tract developments in most of the US (preserves much more land than you probably realize, and also offers housing type diversity), so believe it or not, it's a good model going forward.
Let's keep some perspective.
Thank you, you said it better then me
I think the home designs in Liseter are far better then older Toll product, they primarily used stone and white siding, no stucco (thank goodness), however, I do not like the street layout.. that is just my planning perspective. I've driven through there and toured a lot of the homes before I moved out of the area.
I don't understand what you want? If you are hinting at an overflow from Philadelphia that may be a different argument, but if you are complaining about the growth of a suburb, then I don't know what to tell you... maybe move to North Dakota? Chester County won't be fluffy countryside forever, welcome to 2017.
I don't want anything, as I will never live in Delco again. I lived out west (Colorado) due to a job transfer, and will probably move back in the next few years. However, that doesn't mean I can't comment on what I see in Delco. Growth is normal, and I am OK with it, but not the type of growth I've seen in Delco. Especially the inner burbs which have just become like West Philly.
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