A New Building for Main Street Animal Hospital

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s some construction going on at the south end of Doylestown.

Two buildings were razed last week on a lot next to on South Main Street.

Earth-moving equipment is leveling the lot and plans are underway to build a new structure for South Main Street Animal Hospital, currently located in the strip of buildings between Four Seasons Car Wash and .

The now-empty lot below Wawa on South Main Street was home to two buildings that were also empty for the last few years. One toward the rear of the lot was home to a carpet and flooring store (previous to that, a copy center) and the small house at the front by South Main Street was formerly a small antiques shop.

A few years ago, Wawa had expressed an interest in purchasing the adjacent property to expand its parking lot. Traffic at that location has been an ongoing problem, especially during peak hours when parking is at a premium at the popular convenience store.

Wawa decided to pull out following extensive negotiations, said Phil Ehlinger, Doylestown’s deputy borough manager, building officer and zoning code official.

The pie-shaped lot – larger in front and smaller in the rear – makes it more difficult to develop, said Ehlinger.

The new owner, Dr. Keith Warren, plans a building that is keeping in line with the architectural integrity of the borough, said Ehlinger.

“Being a gateway into town, we felt the look of the building was very important,” he said.

By following a town-planning model, buildings typically are located closer to the road, with parking in the rear.

The reason for that type of placement is that it tends to act as a traffic-calming measure, slowing traffic down as vehicles enter the borough.

So the new building will be located along the street, with parking to the rear of the building.

Plans also call for the owners to replace trees that had to be removed as a result of construction