\ Lewis Development

Nov 14, 2017

Sharing the Love of the Trail

The Lewis Group helps people hit the Schuylkill River Trail.

The Lewis Group's new Bike Share program for employees and tenants of the Riverfront at Royersford includes five new trail bikes that will eventually have access to the Schuylkill River Trail over a refurbished train bridge that bypasses a picturesque island between Spring City and Royersford, Pennsylvania.

ROYERSFORD, PA — Southeastern Pennsylvania's Schuylkill River Trail (SRT) is an extremely popular and well-used multi-use trail that crisscrosses the river from Pottsville to Philadelphia. At just a little more than half way, the SRT passes through Spring City, Pennsylvania, just across the river from the town of Royersford.

Running parallel to the river (and the trail) in Royersford is the development aptly named, Riverfront at Royersford. An evolving project managed by Lewis Development, a part of The Lewis Group family of companies, the Riverfront at Royersford is currently home to several dynamic commercial tenants with plans for retail and residential opportunities on the picturesque riverfront property.

"We have a lot of ideas and some exciting things in the works," offers Rick Lewis, President and CEO of The Lewis Group. "We're proceeding thoughtfully and doing things right."

The Lewis Group is a visionary landlord and the development plans for the property– many still unapproved- are impressive.

With a mission to really transform communities using all of the resources available to The Lewis Group, Lewis Development thinks about much more than construction when repurposing a forgotten brownfield site.

"The Lewis Group is headquartered at the Riverfront at Royersford and we want our excellent company culture to exemplify the entire community here," adds Lewis.

To that end, The Lewis Group has made available a fleet of bicycles that employees and tenants can use as part of the company's private bike sharing program. The program will start with five brand new Trek bicycles that they purchased from Bikesport in Trappe, PA.

"I think it's a great idea," said Ginny Politz, owner of the twenty-seven year old retail bike shop. "We wish that more community planning was done like this in our area."

Indeed there are larger scale community plans happening simultaneously including a bike share in Pottstown and Phoenixville, and the Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area is supporting a recreational outfitter with distribution points along the trail, but The Lewis Group's effort underscores the company's commitment to the sense of community that they're creating at the Riverfront at Royersford.

"The trail is just across the river," adds Lewis. "People can access it now from the Bridge Street bridge but we plan on developing multi-use trails on the Royersford side as well and connecting to the SRT via a refurbished trestle that passes over an island."

The unnamed island, visible from The Lewis Company's offices, is part of a unique project to bring a dilapidated train bridge back to life for trail users. Soon, cyclists, runners and hikers will have exclusive access to the SRT from The Riverfront at Royersford community.

Employees and tenants who wish to use a bicycle from The Lewis Group's Bike Share program will sign a waiver prior to taking a bike out and onto the Schuylkill River Trail where they can choose to head west toward Pottstown or east toward Phoenixville. There are trailside points of interest in both directions.

"The SRT is an excellent way for people to embrace a greater quality of life," says Politz, whose company services other corporate and community fleets including police department bicycles.