Cyclists Plan $27M Indoor Venue and Hotel

NORRISTOWN, PA-American Management Group LLC has partnered with Velodrome Management Group LLC, which is headed by former Olympic cyclists, to develop a 130,000-sf indoor cycling track and 150-room hotel. The project, at 950 Rittenhouse Rd. in Valley Forge Corporate Park, will include a 2,500-seat arena that will be used not only for cycling races, but also for concerts, sporting events and community activities.

The partnership has signed an agreement with Conshohocken-based Preferred Real Estate Investments to acquire a 14-acre parcel that now contains a vacant former semiconductor factory. “We expect the transaction to be complete in December,” Bhaskar Savani, a principal of Philadelphia-based American Management, tells GlobeSt.com. The “ballpark price for acquisition and demolition at the site, will be in the $3-million to $5-million range.”

He estimates the total development cost at “about $27 million, plus-or-minus $5 million. Once we have all the green flags in place,” which he estimates will take three months, “we’ll finalize the design and architecture. Our hope is to open ahead of the 2008 Olympics, so we can have trials there.” The hotel, he adds, “will have a national flag, and we’re in negotiations with prospects now.” Savani is a member of a family investor group that currently owns a Ramada Inn in Peoria, IL, among other properties.