Master developer chosen for Willow Grove base

A year ago, the board overseeing redevelopment of the former Willow Grove Naval Air Station set a goal: To break ground on the first of about 1,500 new homes in early 2015.

That's not happening yet, and it probably won't until next year.

"It's extremely frustrating. Extremely frustrating," said William Whiteside, chairman of the Horsham Land Redevelopment Agency and a Horsham Township councilman. "Every time we turn around, there's some new delay from the Navy."

The project, which has moved in fits and starts since 2006, is largely stalled until the Navy completes its environmental impact study, which was initially targeted for spring 2014.

The agency did take a major step forward at its meeting Wednesday by selecting a master developer, California-based Catellus Development Corp., to help negotiate the land purchase from the Navy.

But executive director Michael McGee advised the board members that with the Navy's timeline "having slipped considerably," they should not begin negotiating prices for the 862-acre site until the environmental survey (EIS) is complete.

"I'm told now the Navy is hopeful. Instead of confident, they've underlined hopeful to have the EIS approved in the summer of this year," he said.

The delay is in part due to chemical contaminants, known as perfluorinated compounds, found in and around the former base.

The chemicals once were commonly used in firefighting foams and haven't been used in years, but the Environmental Protection Agency did not begin requiring local water agencies to test for the compounds until last year. The Navy is now cleaning up the compounds where they exceed maximum levels, including around the former military bases in Horsham and Warminster.

While the Navy has been tied up with remediation, the redevelopment board spent about six months reviewing four master-developer proposals.

Catellus, the firm that won by unanimous vote Wednesday, has completed similar redevelopment projects on shuttered military bases in California, Texas, and Illinois.

That experience, the board members said, will be crucial as they plan to build a little bit of everything on the former military base: 1,486 residential units, an office park, a town center, a golf course, an aviation museum, a middle school, a retirement community, a hotel and conference center, stores, and a park.

A Navy report in December 2013 estimated that over 20 years, the redevelopment would generate $928 million in construction costs, 10,000 jobs, and $15.6 million a year in new tax revenue for Horsham Township.

Among the proposals Catellus beat out were partnerships involving Toll Bros., the luxury home builder, founded in Horsham; Keystone Properties, which has built several other mixed-use properties across Montgomery County; and the Hankin Group, based in Chester County.

Curtis Griffin, a member of the redevelopment board and superintendent of the Hatboro-Horsham School District, said all of the proposals were strong, but Catellus stood out in its recruitment strategy.

"The master developer has to go out, not just to a local Pennsylvania market, but a national, international market looking for corporations, organizations, that would be interested in relocating to the Horsham area," he said. "It's not just about the homes, it's about the added value that the office parks and all of those elements bring."