Vision and Village Restoration
Between 2000 and 2016, Tom Drauschak led the redevelopment and restoration of St. Peters Village, a historic nineteenth century mill hamlet in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Working from a European village master vision, he assembled more than $10 million in properties to catalyze a comprehensive revitalization of the village core and its surrounding land.
The program restored the village's historic commercial buildings, reestablished its streetscape, and reintroduced the daily commercial and community life the hamlet had lost, drawing crowds of up to 6,000 to its annual Oktoberfest.
Township MOU and Regulatory Approvals
To coordinate a project of this scope across public and private jurisdictions, Tom negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with East Vincent Township and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to fast track the program's environmental and land development approvals.
Regulatory coordination extended to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PAPUC), which regulated the village's privately held water and sewer utilities, and to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mining and Reclamation for the reuse of a former quarry. Each approval was secured as part of a single, integrated development plan.
Water and Sewer Utilities
St. Peters Village was served by new sewer and water lines built for privately held utility companies regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Establishing dedicated water and sewer service was foundational to the village's revitalization, allowing the restored commercial core and the new residential neighborhood to be served by permanent, code compliant infrastructure rather than aging private systems.
Roadway, Streetscape, and the Quarry Stormwater Basin
As development lead, working with a fifty percent silent partner, Tom directed a complete PennDOT roadway reconstruction and a new streetscape through the village's commercial core, integrating utilities, sidewalks, and public space into a coherent village fabric.
The program's signature engineering achievement was a stormwater innovation: with permission from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, an abandoned granite quarry was repurposed as a permanent stormwater management basin, an engineering and environmental milestone that resolved the site's stormwater obligations while restoring a disused industrial feature.
Commercial and Hospitality Renewal
Tom reconstructed and operated the St. Peters Inn and Restaurant, adding a bar, expansive outdoor dining, and banquet space; reconstructed the village shops; and created, designed, built, and operated the new St. Peters Bakery, which anchored daily foot traffic and community life in the restored village center.
The Falls Master Plan
The Falls was the residential component of the St. Peters Village master plan, a 121 unit mixed residential neighborhood. Tom land planned the community and managed its design in his own design office, achieving Final Plan Approval in under twelve months, an unusually short entitlement timeline for a project of its size and regulatory complexity.
He then managed the design and construction of model homes and executed the roadway and site improvements, weaving the new neighborhood seamlessly into the historic village landscape.
Outcome and Historical Record
A revitalized, European inspired village district, conceived, entitled, engineered, and substantially built under Tom Drauschak's leadership. The program delivered more than $31 million in property and site improvements, with all infrastructure completed in approximately two years, an integrated record of land planning, civil engineering, utilities, entitlements, and construction across a single historic village.
The plans behind the village.
St. Peters Village was master planned, entitled, and engineered in Tom's own design office. Below are the original working plans: the area map that set the lots and roadways across Iron Ridge and the village core, and the colored site plan for The Falls, the residential neighborhood woven into the landscape.
Tom Drauschak remains available to owners, investors, and institutions regarding St. Peters Village infrastructure, entitlements, and development history.