The Norristown Arts Council is an organization that established and oversees Norristown Arts Hill, an arts district in downtown Norristown. With Centre Theater, Theatre Horizon, and other “creative businesses” already established on The Hill, they are working towards attracting additional similar businesses to vacant buildings in the area and draw attention to Norristown. Establishing an arts district can be paramount to successful revitalization projects in towns such as Norristown, and we support their efforts in many ways, such as twice sponsoring the annual “Reception on The Hill” in support of the Norristown Arts Hill Festival.

The Lafayette Street Extension Project is an effort to improve highway access and mobility into downtown Norristown and Plymouth Township. This three-phase project includes redeveloping and extending Lafayette Street, and will also include the development of a Pennsylvania Turnpike slip ramp. Greater Norristown Corporation has fascilitated a number of meetings throughout the planning phases, have helped to keep local businesses and residents abreast of the updates to ensure they’re aware of the impact and opportunities that will be generated through this project, and also helped to push for the PA Turnpike slip ramp after it initially seemed as though this final phase might not be completed. This project is being headed by the Montgomery County Planning Commission in association with PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

In September 2012, Montgomery Hospital permanently closed and was replaced by Einstein Hospital on Germantown Pike in East Norriston. As part of the acquisition of Montgomery Hospital, Einstein is responsible for managing the reuse of the site, as this could be a valuable and useful property. GNC has taken an active role on the committee that has been formed to determined how the property should be used. We are pushing for a use that would contribute to the Norristown tax base.