Lidl warehouse coming to Keystone Trade Center in Falls in $145M deal

Damon C. Williams, Bucks County Courier Times
·2 min read
German grocer Lidl, which operates stores such as this, purchased 69 acres at the Keystone Trade Center in Falls. Lidl will use the land to build a warehouse.
German grocer Lidl, which operates stores such as this, purchased 69 acres at the Keystone Trade Center in Falls. Lidl will use the land to build a warehouse.

The Keystone Trade Center will soon have a new tenant, as German grocer Lidl recently purchased a 69-acre tract in for roughly $145 million at the growing industrial park in Falls.

Lidl spokesperson Jessica Shangle confirmed the transaction, but said other details are still coming in to focus.

"I can confirm Lidl US has purchased a site for a future warehouse in Bucks County," Shangle said Friday. "We are still in the early planning phase for the site and will have more to share over the coming months."

The confirmation would make Lidl, with several store locations in and planned for Bucks County, the latest tenant at the sprawling complex that once housed U.S. Steel.

In 2020, Kansas City, Missouri-based industrial developer NorthPoint purchased the site and plan to invest more than $1 billion into remediation and redevelopment to make way for 10 million square feet of warehouses and logistics centered industrial buildings on some 1,800 acres.

More:Development continues on former US Steel site with expanded Morton Salt facility

Development at Keystone Trade Center:Falls OKs construction of 1M-square-foot warehouse as part of former US Steel redevelopment

Lidl operations in Bucks County

In late 2020, Madison New Falls Associates received approval from Bristol Township for a new Lidl supermarket on a subdivided lot it agreed to purchase from Verizon at 7843 New Falls Road, sitting across from the Appletree section of Levittown.

That site has been cleared, but no construction has begun.

Also in 2020, Lidl US Operations LLC presented its application for the 4000 block of Hulmeville Road in Bensalem to the Bensalem Zoning Hearing Board, as it sought a variance to use the property for a grocery store. The Bensalem Republicans reported on its social media that the zoning for the project was denied last March.

Bensalem Building and Planning Department confirmed Friday there is no current land development application on file as of yet for this location.

In Warminster, Lidl is developing a supermarket at York and Street roads on property where a former Pathmark store once was located. Separate "pads" on the site could hold a restaurant and possibly other commercial uses.

The Warminster store would be the first in Bucks County.

The very first Lidl store opened in in Ludwigshafen, Germany in 1973. The chain, which has stores in 32 countries around the world, began opening locations in the United States in 2017 and now has 130 stores in nine states.

For subscribers:Bucks County warehouse boom: 12 distribution centers developers want to build here

New Lidl in Bensalem, Bristol Township?Lidl proposes stores for Bristol Township, Bensalem as it plans to open in Warminster in 2021

Lidl operates several locations in the Delaware Valley, including outlets in Cherry Hill, NJ, Clifton Heights, Folsom, Lansdale and King of Prussia. Overall, Lidl's operates 13 stores statewide.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Lidl warehouse coming to 69-acre plot at Keystone Trade Center in Falls