The New Norristown: 1,000 Units, Hospital Redevelopment Set To Revitalize Disinvested Town

Suburban NIMBYism and lengthy entitlement processes have made Montgomery County a notoriously difficult place to build, but developers are hearing a different tune in Norristown. More than 1,000 new residential units were recently delivered or are in the pipeline, and the major mixed-use redevelopment of a defunct psychiatric hospital is underway in the long-overlooked county seat.  That is a notable change of pace for Norristown, where officials are eager to expand the tax base hollowed out by deindustrialization and competition from booming nearby suburbs in the late 20th century. “It’s time for us to bring Norristown back to what it was,” Municipal Administrator Leonard Lightner...