Eight years ago, on a skiing trip with his family, John Randolph discovered an expansive manufacturing facility in East Greenville. A detour during his journey to Bear Creek in Longswamp Township from Wilmington, Del., led the developer principal for a New Jersey company to the industrial building, located at 401 W. 4th St., in the borough

            Randolph was immediately struck by the size and layout of the structure, which was not for sale. After receiving a tour of the facility in February 2015, his interest increased. He described it as an ideal candidate for an historic conversion. 

            "Right away, I knew it could work," Randolph said. "I always wanted to develop a property in Montgomery County."

            The conversion of the former SOS Products building by Ingerman, a construction management company based in Collingswood, N.J., is currently 20 percent complete, according to Randolph. He said the Willows at East Greenville, the 71-apartment community, should be ready for tenants in 2020.

            The $22 million project to convert approximately 100,000 square feet into living space – the largest housing project in East Greenville in nearly 30 years – will feature 29 different unit types, ranging from efficiency to three-bedrooms, covering between 600 and 1,350 square feet, according to Randolph.

            "This cost is right in our sweet spot," he said earlier this month during a tour of the property, which dates back to the 19^th Century.          

            He said the apartments will be leased, and Ingerman will continue to own it. According to the developer, those agreements should be available in the spring and the units ready for occupation in the fall.

            The mixed income community includes the infusion of tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. It will feature apartments set at affordable and market rates, according to Randolph. He said 59 of the units will include rent restrictions.

            East Greenville Borough Council approved a zoning code amendment to allow adaptive reuse provisions for certain industrial buildings, like SOS, in the LI-Light Industrial Zoning District. The additional residents will increase the earned income tax base, according to Manager Jim Fry.

            In an email message received Monday morning, Fry said the only issue created by the project could be the potential for more vehicle use on Fourth Street, but, a completed traffic survey did not raise a major issue with increased traffic.

            "If this property were to be redeveloped as a business or industry, we would have a greater traffic impact from trucks, employees, noise, etc.," Fry wrote. 

            The company boasts completed and current projects with a worth approaching $1 billion according to its website. It is currently is responsible for multiple senior, family and premium communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Ingerman recently converted a former carriage-making factory, a 135,000 facility built in 1896 in West York Borough by Milton D. Martin, into 61 apartments, known as a Carriage Works Community.

            According to Randolph, the company, which specializes in historic adaptive uses, purchased the East Greenville 4.08-acre parcel in August for $900,000 from East Greenville Real Estate LLC. However, he described the East Greenville project as more difficult than most Ingerman handles due to environmental remediation of the building and remediation related to historical issues. The structure was placed on the National Register of Historical Places two years ago.  

            Crews spent the first few months at the site completing limited demolition, removing plumbing and heating chemicals produced by the previous owner and restoring and stabilizing the oldest segment of the building, erected in 1880 as a cigar factory, according to the developer. He described that portion of the facility – which was purchased by the Boyertown Burial Casket Company in 1919, according to Ingerman's National Register of Historic Places Registration Form – as structurally unsound. Only four thin walls and an interior skeleton remained earlier this month.

            The original portion of the facility will be rebuilt. The iconic smokestack will be surrounded by a landscaped courtyard and a patio. The area fronting the aging structure, which has been cleared of brush, will serve as a parking area. Crews will convert an old boiler room into a common area with exposed brick walls and a fireplace. A fitness room will be constructed in an adjacent space, according to Randolph.

            Workers have begun fitting apartments in the 1919 and 1925 wings of the building. Randolph said each unit will feature elevated ceilings and each wing will include a central corridor. Crews also continue their work to rebuild more than half of the roof with specially cut timber from Oregon and Colorado.  Elsewhere, crews repointed old brick and continued to remove debris left by Bill Pryor, the previous owner who operated SOS Products, Inc.

            "It's a busy site," Randolph said.