There already are plenty of homes and businesses along Route 30 in East Hempfield Township.

But not like this.

A Hershey developer wants to build a unique blend of offices, stores, hotels and senior housing on a tract bounded by the bypass, Marietta Pike and Running Pump Road.

The $150 million project, called Cheswicke Towne Centre, would be developed on a sloping cornfield of 58 acres by James Nardo of ABBCO Real Properties.

"This would be a good synergy of mixed uses, put together in a park-like environment, that's an asset to the community," said project manager Mel Chiodo.

To make the development possible, Nardo is seeking to have the four-tract site rezoned from agricultural holding and suburban residential to local commercial.

The township supervisors are scheduled to weigh the request at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15. The county and township planners have recommended approval.

If the rezoning is granted, Nardo next would file a preliminary land development plan, then a final plan.

Assuming the plan-approval process takes its usual time, he could break ground as early as late summer or fall 2009.

Construction of the entire venture could take 10 years or more to complete, a township official said.

Tentative plans for Cheswicke show nearly 500,000 square feet of buildings — roughly the space of nine football fields. Many would be several floors tall.

"It's like nothing we have around here," said Mark Stivers, East Hempfield's director of planning and development. "I think it would be a good addition to the township."

Nardo intends to build two hotels, three banks, two restaurants, offices and stores (including a grocery), plus as many 210 apartments and townhouses for people 55 and older. About a fourth of those units would have federal rent subsidies.

He'd also build a lake along Route 30, walking trails, an outdoor theater and a community center.

"We want to allow people to come and spend the day, without having to hop in their cars to get things done," said Chiodo, describing the project as "pedestrian-friendly."

Access would be from Marietta Pike and Running Pump Road, according to a land-use drawing Nardo submitted to the township.

But Nardo also is considering adding an interchange to Route 30 at the Running Pump Road overpass, said Stivers. Chiodo declined to comment on this possibility.

If Nardo clears the rezoning hurdle, the township will "look carefully" at how he addresses traffic, stormwater and water-pressure issues in his land-development plans for the site, according to Stivers.

Nardo said the combination of uses in Cheswicke "makes good sense. It's nothing more than a city of yesteryear. It's a community development. Not only can the people who live there take advantage of the amenities, but anyone can."

The commercial uses, he said, are intended to make Cheswicke "a one-stop shop" that provides convenience for the residents of Cheswicke and nearby neighborhoods.

"They're geared for what people need every day," said Nardo. "There's no big boxes. Those are left for the other guys."

The buildings and storm-water management system would be as "green" as possible, by the use of recycled construction materials, "green" roofs, wind and solar energy to power some buildings, and water-absorbing paving, said Paul McNamee, senior consultant with Clark Resources.

Nardo and his wife, Sharon, founded ABBCO in 1975, according to its Web site. ABBCO manages more than a million square feet of retail space in central Pennsylvania.

Recent projects include renovating and expanding the Olmstead Plaza shopping center opposite Harrisburg International Airport into the Linden Centre.

Among his other recent ventures are similar retail redevelopments in Middletown and Mechanicsburg, according to the Web site.

The East Hempfield tract has been in the Nardo family for about 25 years.

"Having met with Jim several times now, it seems like it's been his dream" (to develop it). He's putting his heart and soul into it," said Stivers.

Nardo initially presented his concept for the tract to the township in 2006. At that time, the project was unnamed, had fewer buildings and had no housing component, New Era files indicate.

However, the township asked Nardo to wait to file his rezoning petition, said Stivers, because it was in the midst of adopting a comprehensive plan.

The township then asked him to hold off as it mulled passing a "traditional neighborhood development" (TND) ordinance.

Township supervisors turned down a TND ordinance in January. Nardo filed his rezoning petition for Cheswicke the next month.

"He's been sitting on this for a while. Now he's ready to go ahead," said Stivers. "If he's approved on the 15th, I suspect he'll ramp up and get a preliminary land development plan to us by the end of the year."

Nardo acknowledged the irony of approaching the supervisors about such an expensive project while the nation is in the midst of a financial crisis.

But he noted that the concept was "hatched" several years ago, when the financial climate was healthier.

He indicated that, if all approvals are secured, the start of construction would be well in the future and be spread over a decade, when the financial climate, hopefully, will be healthier again.

Nardo is at least the third developer to eye the tract since the mid 1980s.

Another developer proposed building a sports academy on the site in 1995. The venture would have featured athletic fields and a 40,000-square-foot field house. But township zoners denied the developers a waiver needed to build the complex.

Before that, Nardo's father Frank had tried to get the land rezoned in 1986 for a 106-home housing development, but the township refused. Frank Nardo unsuccessfully appealed the decision to county, Commonwealth and the state Supreme courts.


Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.