Following an intense strategic real estate planning effort, Montgomery County adopted our recommendations for a $276 million redevelopment of the Norristown county complex. The multi-phased project is comprised of four major segments: reskinning the occupied One Montgomery Plaza office building, renovating the historic courthouse and creating a significant addition, redesigning and expanding Hancock Square, and renovating the interior of One Montgomery Plaza, the County office building, while occupied. Our recommendations focused not only on organizing the county’s campus but on using its presence to strengthen Norristown’s urban core.

Working with the County team, we defined methods for efficient decision making and communicating with stakeholders, and identified key stakeholders including users, building operators, administrative leadership, elected officials, partner organizations, and the public-at-large. We established and led an inclusive goal-setting process that reconciled the County’s bonding and financial capabilities with the viewpoints of stakeholders and hard reality (building conditions, repair estimates, and program needs/space requirements) to create a common set of objectives. We then worked through a daunting array of variables to create alternative concept plans, vet options for temporary sites, and analyze each option’s impact in terms of time, cost, and benefit.