Developer eyes apartments for long-abandoned Frackville factory

FRACKVILLE – A long-abandoned garment factory here could see new life soon.

A Delaware County developer, Ridley Creek Acquisitions, wants to convert the former H.D. Bob Shirt Factory at Oak and Broad Mountain Avenue into market rate apartments.

Plans shared with the Sentinel show 44 units planned for the ex-factory. They are mostly one- and two- bedroom units with two three-bedroom units.

“Typically, when they go into one of these ventures, they don’t sell the property,” Ron Jordan said at the May Frackville Borough Council meeting. “Very long-term holdings. They don’t switch hands and switch hands and switch hands.”

Developers said they have “a long process to go” and declined to provide a ballpark timeline.

“Every time I tell someone a schedule, I’m always wrong,” Brian O’Neill Jr. told members of the press.

The project must still be approved by the Schuylkill County Zoning Hearing Board among other regulatory approvals that are needed.

The developers also provided the borough a parking study that studied the use of parking in the neighborhood on a normal day in February which concluded that “sufficient parking capacity exists to accommodate the projected parking demand associated with the proposed development.”

In other business, borough council approved:

• the 2026 Road Program at a cost of $98,982 to New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co.;
• the sale of equipment to West Mahanoy Township for $3,500, including a vehicle lift, street broom attachment, roller, salt spreader, and street saws;
• the indefinite extension of the application deadline for full- and part-time police officers;
• the purchase of holsters and temporary no parking signs for the police department;
• an amendment to the handicapped parking ordinance to adjust the fee to $100 and add license plate and or placard numbers;
• the 2026 pool fee schedule;
• Lunch in Memorial Park through the summer.

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home. She is a 12-time Keystone Media Award winner, a PAB Excellence in Broadcasting award winner, and has been nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy award.

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