Representatives from Starbucks and a still-unnamed walk-up frozen dessert shop will come before Jenkintown Borough Council on Wednesday, May 22.

Both businesses are planning to open in the vacant parking lot at 610 York Road, which has been vacant for half a century. Strawbridge and Clothier was the last business to use the land, according to Borough officials.

Borough manager George Locke said the businesses are in the final stages of approval.

“They’re coming before Council for land development. It’s been reviewed by the county and the Borough’s engineers. They’ll probably come back another evening, and that’s their final approval,” Locke said. “They’ll have to get their sewer approval and the design review board approval.”

Plans for the new eateries were made public in June 2023. The Starbucks is expected to be housed by a 2,500 sf building with a drive-thru lane. The dessert shop’s building will be around 1,000 sf, according to their application.

In October, Starbucks project’s developer Jenkins Court Realty Co, LP appeared before Jenkintown Borough’s Zoning Hearing Board to request a variance so that its drive-thru windows won’t face a public street.

In November, a petition created by Jenkintown Abington Neighbors Association (JANA) and titled “NO to the 610 Old York Road Drive-Through – Keep our neighborhood roads safe!” began circulating in Jenkintown.

The petition claimed that Starbucks’ current agreement with the borough is “projected to add hundreds of cars daily cutting through Noble Village and eastern Jenkintown with an entrance / exit a block from two different bus stops for children.”

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