Eyesore in Downingtown That Caught Trump’s Eye Undergoing Demolition, Redevelopment

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Image of Downingtown Mayor Josh Maxwell via Charles Fox, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Thanks to some exposure from Donald Trump on Twitter, a hulking, vacant former industrial site in Downingtown is undergoing demolition and is slated for long-overdue redevelopment, writes Erin McCarthy for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

It was April 2016, when then-presidential candidate Trump was traveling from a campaign rally at West Chester University, and his motorcade passed the abandoned Sonoco paper mill on the corner of Boot Road and Route 322, a short distance from the borough’s main drag.

“Passing what was once a vibrant manufacturing area in Pennsylvania,” tweeted Trump. “So sad!”

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Shortly after Trump’s tweet, Downingtown Mayor Josh Maxwell’s phone began buzzing non-stop. For Maxwell, a Democrat who has served as mayor since 2010, the tweet led to hundreds of messages and growing concern about the future of the vacant and dilapidated plant’s redevelopment.

At the time, Maxwell was already in talks with developers, hoping to knock down the neighborhood eyesore and replace it with stores, apartments, and a new train station. The former factory site closed after a fire in 2005.

Last month, Downingtown Borough Council gave the Hankin Group permission to begin demolition at the 68-acre property. Hankin is expected to spend about $150 million on the redevelopment, according to planning documents, a figure that would mark the largest private investment in Downingtown’s history.

Click here to read more about the redevelopment project in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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