Hotel, New Homes Amongst Top Picks for Willows by Parks Board

Radnor Township's Parks and Recreation Board ranked their preferred proposals for the Willows Mansion and Cottage. The top four proposals included plans for a boutique hotel and townhouses in the township-owned park.

The board, made up of Radnor citizens, ranked their preferred plans by each member assigning a number value to each plan; those values were then added up.

The "top four" are from:

Jeffrey Miller Catering - Read about their plan here.

C.F. Holloway and Co - Read about the plan here.

100th Street LLC - Read about the plan here.

Cross Street Partners - Read their plan in the pdf section of this article.

Radnor Board of Commisisoner member John Nagle said the proposals for a hotel and houses on the property are not consistent with some major criteria that the township stated in its request for proposals. Still, he said, the township may work with them to address some of the issues.

At the Parks and Recreation Board meeting on Thursday, manager Bob Zienkowski said the next step is to create more specific requests and needs to ask the top contenders to address in an upcoming meeting. The top requests from the township's perspective are:

• The township does not want to give up ownership of any portion of the former estate.
• The open space, sledding hills, trails and pond must continue as public space.
• The township wants to eliminate the annual operating and maintenance expenses for the mansion and cottage.
• It wants the buildings renovated at the firm's expense.
• It wants an annual fee paid to the township for use of the buildings.
• The character should match the neighborhood and incorporate historical design elements from the original buildings.
• The township wants residents and community groups to continue to use the mansion at a discount.
• It wants the township's recreation and programming department to have use of the facilities for fixed days each year.

Related:

Opinion: On the Future of the Willows Mansion

Blog Post: Willows Proposals