Initially, the former Neighborhood Services building at 134 S. Prince St. in Lancaster was to serve as the core of the homelessness services hub that is being planned there. The plan was to add a second floor, or “overbuild,” directly atop the existing structure, to provide additional housing.
The project team now says the building will have to be mostly demolished and rebuilt.
An assessment by the team’s engineers discovered that the aged masonry structure was built on rubble, without proper footings. There’s no way it could support the weight of an additional story.
So, to make the project work, the building’s east and west walls have to be torn down and replaced with new foundations and walls, architect Rachel Haynes of Tippetts Weaver told Lancaster’s Historical Commission and City Council.
The south wall is equally unsound, but to minimize disruption to the adjacent property, it will be retained and buttressed with a second wall, creating a double wall there.
“So, it’s basically a new building on the existing footprint,” Historical Commission member Steve Funk said during an Aug. 17 review of the project.
“Yes,” responded Wendy Tippetts, one of Tippetts Weaver’s founding partners.
While the building is believed to date to 1915, it is nondescript, and Tippetts assured the commission it is not considered historically significant.
Its members concurred, recommending that City Council approve the demolition and new construction. City Council did so, signing off on the project at its Sept. 10 meeting. The project still has other approvals to secure, including the Planning Commission.
About the hub
Announced in early 2023, the hub project is a linchpin of the Homelessness Coalition’s strategy to expand services to the unhoused — services that are badly needed as the county copes with a sharp uptick in homelessness and housing precarity.
Technically, the property is owned and is being developed by the Lancaster Redevelopment Fund. It is a nonprofit created and administered by the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority, which houses the office of the Homelessness Coalition.
Besides the Neighborhood Services building, three other structures are involved: The townhouse immediately to the north, and two buildings on the Water Street side: A former church and a wood-frame residential building.
All three will undergo renovation that will tie them into the Neighborhood Services building, creating a single complex. The townhouse will be rehabilitated, and one of its ground-floor windows will be replaced with double doors. They will serve as the hub’s main entrance, leading through an entry walk into a courtyard with doors into the rest of the complex.
The plans submitted to the Historical Commission and approved by City Council provide for nearly 19,000 square feet of usable space. The first floor will house offices, a day center and a 28-bed emergency shelter with separate sides for men and women. It will also have nine units of short-term housing for individuals and families in crisis, including one fully handicap-accessible unit and three that can accommodate up to six beds.
The second floor will have 21 long-term “supportive” housing units, intended for people who need ongoing wraparound services because of disabilities, chronic health problems or other issues. Individuals will be allowed to stay up to four years, under an exception granted last year by the Zoning Hearing Board.
The number of units is close to the totals discussed a year ago as the project was taking shape. At that time, 22 units of supportive housing and 10 to 12 units of crisis housing were envisioned.
Project cost
It has not yet been determined how the additional demolition and construction entailed by the lack of footings will affect the overall project budget.
The project team made a concerted effort to assess site needs and identify potential problem areas like that up front, said Justin Eby, the authority’s executive director, so that “once we break ground all aspects of the project are known, to avoid unanticipated delays and expenses.”
The redevelopment authority has been working for months with a budget estimate of $7.2 million. The authority has about $1 million less than that in available funding, including a $1.5 million line of credit. It’s working on securing the rest, Eby told the authority’s board at its August meeting.
The authority is expecting an updated budget estimate no later than November. It has not gamed out the cost of demolishing and rebuilding the walls yet, because it would be premature, Eby said.
“We are still working with our architects and the structural and geotechnical engineers to assess if additional improvements will need to be made and what our options are for reconstruction,” he said.
Third-party experts contacted by One United Lancaster said there isn’t enough information publicly available to know how the cost would compare to the original “overbuild” plan.
In any case, the question is moot, Haynes and Weaver said. The second story is needed to meet the hub’s service goals and space needs. Even if that weren’t the case, the hub needs rooftop mechanical equipment, and the original building isn’t sturdy enough.
Nor would it be able to support solar panels, which the coalition is planning to install to lower its energy costs and offset operating costs. The design incorporates numerous “passive house” features, Haynes and Tippetts said — components such as thick walls and insulated windows that maximize efficiency and minimize energy use. The building may or may not achieve “net zero” energy use, but the goal is to get as close as is practicable, Tippetts said.
The authority hopes to bid out the project by the end of this year and start construction in January or February, Eby said. It hopes to open the hub around the end of 2025.
