Pictured inside the Limerick office of Diamond Real Estate Investments LLC are George Reeves, vice president; Donna McCann, secretary; Patrick Heller, president; and BrianDonley, vice president of develpment. The company opened its Limerick headquarters in December. Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury

Coming soon to a Pottstown-area site near you: A 14-screen movie multi-plex, shops and restaurants.

Limerick developer Diamond Real Estate Investments Inc. is currently in the approvals process with Upper Pottsgrove officials regarding Commerce Corner, a 186,000-square-foot development planned for Route 100 and Commerce Drive — diagonal across Route 100 from Upland Square Shopping Center.

That choice of location is no coincidence. Commerce Corner’s developer has ties to Upland Square.

Patrick G. Heller, president of the recently formed Diamond Real Estate Investments LLC, not too long ago represented Sapphire Development Co., the King of Prussia developer which gained approval for — then sold — the Upland Square project to Tristate Ventures LP. That company, based in Plymouth Meeting, sold the project to Cedar Shopping Centers Inc. of Port Washington, N.Y., prior to construction.

In the 688,000-square-foot Upland Square Shopping Center in West Pottsgrove, major retail tenants including Target, Giant, T.J. Maxx. Best Buy, and Bed Bath and Beyond opened during the summer of 2009.

“That was a great success,” Heller said of Upland Square. “We were 60 days ahead of the collapse of the economy and the market.”

Being familiar with the location of the project and the infrastructure — including the recently improved and expanded intersection at Route 100 and State Road — Heller said it made sense to go after one of the adjoining corners of that new and improved intersection.

Heller noted that Route 100 went from a “four-lane to a nine-lane highway” at that spot.

“I thought, ‘Let’s capitalize on this a little bit,” he said. “The perfect fit was Carmike (Cinemas Inc.). There’s no theater complex in the area except at Oaks” at the Regal Cinema complex.

Heller added, “It feels like a great void in the market. The demographics call for it. That intersection gets about 40,000 cars a day.”

Heller’s new company — Diamond Real Estate Investments LLC, which was formed in September and recently opened an office at 542 N. Lewis Road, Suite 200, in Limerick — did just that with plans for Commerce Corner.

The development is planned for 34 acres in Upper Pottsgrove currently occupied by six residential and five commercial property owners.

The development planning process included working with three municipalities — Upper Pottsgrove, West Pottsgrove and Pottstown Borough — as well as state agencies including PennDOT.

“Both Upper Pottsgrove and West Pottsgrove have been phenomenal to deal with,” Heller said.

With 11 property owners to convince to move elsewhere, Heller had his work cut out for him. By comparison, only three property-owner negotiations were necessary for the much larger Upland Square project.

Diamond Real Estate Investments was able to reach agreements with all 11 landowners, Heller said, noting negotiations with those land owners took about eight-and-a-half months and required up to 12 visits with each party.

“The ironic thing is, I created the value I was paying for,” Heller said, referring to Upland Square.

Affected businesses include Ed Quay Racing and Plastic Waterlines Inc.

“Eventually they (the property owners) understood the benefits to develop,” Heller said. “A lot of the people are going to do a lot of great things with the money — upgrade, or move.”

Hopewell Community Church and 2nd Attic Self Storage, as well as residences located further north on Commerce Drive, are outside the development area and will stay put.

Planned access routes to Commerce Corner include a new road in the area of what is now Commerce Drive — to be named Commerce Boulevard — and Harding Street in Upper Pottsgrove and Wilson Street in Pottstown.

“We will wrap around all the way to Wilson Street to border Highland Memorial Park.”

A groundbreaking is planned for late spring on the development, which will include a 14-screen, 2,300-seat Carmike Cinemas Inc. movie complex as well as retailers, a bank and restaurants.

“Somewhere within 12 to 14 months we hope to have a movie theater complex. The outside timeframe would be 18 months,” Heller said. “November 2011 is our drop dead date,” he added.

The Carmike Cinemas theater will be the anchor tenant. Carmike publicly announced its intention to open the movie theater in October 2009.

“Our new theatre complex will bring the best in Hollywood entertainment and the most advanced digital and 3-D exhibition technology to the Pottstown area, and will create new jobs both through the construction and employment upon its opening,” said Carmike President and CEO David Passman in an October 2009 statement.

Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Columbus, Ga.-based Carmike, said during an October interview with The Mercury that no decision had been made as to the future of the existing Coventry 8 Theater near the Coventry Mall in North Coventry.

Hurst said it is unknown how many jobs will be created at the new theater.

Other tenants have expressed interest in Commerce Corner, but “because of confidentiality and exclusivity” Heller said he could not name them at this point.

“We are negotiating leases and LOIs (letters of intent) for about 80 percent of the center,” he said. “We’re talking with restaurants, banks. We would love to see some local businesses expand. Too often they think it’s undoable or out of reach.”

Upper Pottsgrove Township Manager Jack P. Layne Jr. said the Commerce Corner development is a good thing for not only Upper Pottsgrove, but also for neighboring municipalities, he said.

Layne described the project as a “window of opportunity” for the area.

“Something of this caliber is good for this area. There are some that look at it as a drain or a negative to Pottstown because of where it’s located,” Layne said.

“But I believe it’s a plus, especially because it’s across from the old Giant (the former Giant store in the Pottstown Plaza that closed in July when the new Upland Square Giant was opened). It might help to redevelop the older shopping center there.”

Layne said Commerce Corner will help that area become a “destination point.”

“More importantly, because of our regional economy, this provides jobs and we need jobs,” he said. “The proposed 3-D theater is a great niche for this community. The theater could also be used as a convention site for nonprofits and other organizations, maybe even the community college. It has more than one use. It is state-of-the-art.”

Layne noted that Commerce Corner will be the largest commercial development in Upper Pottsgrove, and will provide a commercial tax base that has heretofore been lacking in the township.

“We have no ratables of any significance. That’s why our budget is so tight. We can’t rely on commercial development as our neighbors can,” he explained. “We need that kind of income from a commercial entity.”

Layne, a Pottstown resident and a former Pottstown borough manager, noted that Upper Pottsgrove is committed to working as “partners” with Pottstown Borough to create additional positive development opportunities.

Layne said the project will next come before the township planning commission at its Feb. 8 meeting.

In addition to Heller, Diamond Real Estate Investments includes George A. Reeves, vice president, who operates the company’s Woodstown, N.J. office, and Brian Donley, vice president of development, who worked from the Limerick office.

Heller said he has one project remaining with Sapphire, where he bought out his other two partners last year.

Reeves comes to Diamond from Philadelphia-based The Goldenberg Group, where, according to Heller, he was instrumental in developing the recently-opened Exeter Commons.

Donley comes from an area Real Estate Investment Trust, where he worked on regional retail developments including sites for Target and Walgreens.

A Limerick resident, Heller opened Diamond Real Estate Investment’s Limerick office about six weeks ago.

“We cover the tri-state area,” he said. “We have a number of projects in the works. We’re looking at a couple of big residential projects in the area, including a 120-unit project, if we nail the terms, in Collegeville.”

Commerce Corner is Diamond’s first project. The developer’s other current projects include an apartment complex in Sinking Spring.

He recently traveled to Billings, Mont., to visit a newly constructed Carmike movie complex that is quite similar to the one planned at Commerce Corner and was floored by what he saw there.

“It’s a beautiful-looking moving theater — new, but retro. It’s beautiful on the inside — bright, and neon,” he said of the Billings theater. “Being the developer, we wanted to make sure it was phenomenal. We wanted to make sure it was everything it professed to be.”

He stressed the fact the Diamond Real Estate Investments LLC is a local developer.

“We’d love to do more local projects,” Heller said.

The current economic climate is conducive to new development, he said.

“Right now is a good time because the prices have corrected, meaning they’re within the realm of reason,” Heller said.

To learn more about Diamond Real Estate Investments LLC, which is located at 542 N. Lewis Road, Suite 200, Limerick, call 484-929-2920.

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