Upgrades for the Colonade?

The owner of the apartments at the corner of Old York and Township Line roads — more commonly known as The Colonade Apartments — would like to see them a little less commercial.

In a presentation Tuesday night to the Abington Zoning Hearing Board, the managing owner of the complex, Jeffrey Cohen, of Old York, LLC, said he is looking to convert about 65,000 square feet of commercial space at the complex to residential apartments. There are currently two structures on the campus — a 12-story L-shaped building at the corner of Old York and Township Line roads known as “The Estate Building” (formerly known as Benson East), and a smaller structure farther north on Township Line Road called “The Manor Building.”

The plans also include the demolition of a raised parking structure on the property, the removal of the 1-story Koba restaurant, and the elimination of the current entrances for the buildings — including the Old York Road/Township Line Road entrance, which would be removed in favor of a rear entrance. That entrance would landscaped, to give it a "softer feel." Ingress and egress to the property would be done via one driveway on Township Line Road, though there would be emergency access on Washington Lane and Old York Road.

Other plans include moving the amenities out of the basement and into a central building and converting the space in front of the Manor building to a courtyard. The apartments themselves would also be revamped over a five-year period.

Cohen, of Boston, has been a managing owner of the property since 1996; he said the complex is in need of the upgrades. 

“The biggest thing we’d like to do is create a community,” Cohen said. “Currently, the Manor people have nothing to do with the people in the Estate building.

“Commercial space may have been functional in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, but it’s now functionally obsolete,” he continued. “We need to do something with that space to create an environment of security by getting rid of the commercial aspect.”

The 11-plus acre complex is currently at about 60 percent capacity, the Cohen said for 16 of the last 17 years of ownership, it was at 90 percent. Should the renovations happen, there would be 587 apartments in the complex. 

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