Archdiocese Cuts Deal to Sell 200-acre Don Guanella Village in Marple for $47 Million
By Patti Mengers
Officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Thursday announced an agreement of sale for the more than 200 acres that comprise the site of Don Guanella Village and the residential Cardinal Krol Center for developmentally disabled men on Sproul Road in Marple, a deal that they expect will help reduce some of the archdiocese’s underfunded liabilities. Upon closing the sale, Cardinal Crossing Realty Associates, based in Jenkintown, Montgomery County, will pay $47 million for the property, which the company is seeking to develop for commercial and residential use, said Kenneth Gavin, director of communications for the archdiocese. He said the transaction will require Vatican approval, which has been granted to the archdiocese in other instances. “No firm estimate, but we hope to close as soon as possible,” said Gavin. Archdiocese of Philadelphia Real Estate Advisory Committee Chairman Walter D’Alessio said numerous offers for the Don Guanella property were evaluated. “Cardinal Crossing Properties proposed a deal with a comprehensive development plan, absent of significant contingencies that appropriately considered the expectations of local government agencies. They also expressed a willingness to close the transaction in a timely fashion and they will work within the context of the challenges being faced by Catholic Social Services,” said D’Alessio. Part of the Don Guanella property sale provides for the archdiocese to retain several acres of the property for the construction of a residential campus for 27 medically fragile men who are currently residents of the Cardinal Krol Center. “The process of constructing a campus for these medically fragile residents will be extremely complex and the first priority is the safety and the welfare of these men. It requires not only acreage, but also appropriate zoning considerations, setbacks, topography and access to roads, utilities and sewer lines,” said Gavin. Funding for the medically fragile men’s campus, which is expected to be completed by the end of next June, will be provided by Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare’s Office of Developmental Programs. Officials from the Office of Developmental Programs will oversee the proposed location and may opt for another site for the facility, said Gavin. In August, Marple Solicitor Adam Matlawski noted that the Don Guanella parcel represents about 4 percent of the municipality and its development would have a significant impact on the township’s quality of life and tax base. “This is one of the most significant developments the township has ever had,” said Township Manager Tony Hamaday Thursday afternoon. He noted that a development of this magnitude will require many meetings with the planning and zoning commissions, as well as the board of commissioners. “Everything is public. Residents adjoining the property or within 500 feet of it will receive notification of the meetings. The township will make sure everybody knows what’s happening,” Hamaday said. He said Thursday that township officials had not yet received a proposed plan or sketch from the developer, but they have already launched a site-capacity analysis of the area through their engineering firm, Pennoni Associates, to study the current and possible future impact of traffic on Sproul Road and throughout the Don Guanella property. He said the front section of the Don Guanella property along Sproul Road is zoned institutional, while property farther back is zoned “RC” and “RB” residential. “I don’t know if he’ll be asking for zoning variances or rezoning,” said Hamaday. “If it is rezoning, he will have to proceed with the request right to the board of commissioners. They do not have to entertain it.” In August, Matlawski said the bid had been won by Goodman Properties, which shares the same address as Cardinal Crossing Realty. Cardinal Crossing Realty was incorporated June 2, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Established in 1985 by Bruce Goodman, Goodman Properties owns and manages 5 million square feet of space in nearly 200 free-standing retail locations and large-scale shopping centers in the tri-state area and Evansville, Indiana. Goodman said on Thursday he is still working with engineers and developing plans for the Don Guanella property, which he hopes to present to Marple township officials by early 2015. “We’re obviously planning a mixed-use development, a combination of retail, entertainment, office and residential,” Goodman said. He noted that this will be his first foray into residential development and he is going to select a residential development partner for the project. In Delaware County, Goodman’s tenants include: a Family Dollar store in Chester; a Pep Boys auto parts store in Darby Township; a CVS pharmacy in Media and two in Springfield; and a Qdoba restaurant, Vitamin Shoppe, Springfield Realty, Sleepy’s mattress store, Starbuck’s, Talbot’s and AT&T Wireless store, all in Springfield. “The Talbot’s I built 33 years ago. We keep these properties. We don’t sell them. We plan on building this property in Marple and owning it for many years,” said Goodman. The move to relocate Don Guanella clients to more residential settings began in the summer of 2011 after officials in the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare’s Office of Developmental Programs expressed concern that the Cardinal Krol building, where four men lived in each room, was too much of an institutional setting. In January 2013, there were 128 men living on the Don Guanella campus. In June 2012, 34 men were moved to two cottages on campus that had housed 16 developmentally disabled boys who were relocated to a Northeast Philadelphia group home. Fifty men remained in the Cardinal Krol building and 44 lived in two other cottages on campus that were built in the 1980s.Archdiocesan officials sought state funding to build additional community residences. In early May, four developmentally disabled men moved into Don Guanella Home at Fairhill Road, a private house located on the unit block of Fairhill Road in Morton. Don Guanella residents have also been moved into three private homes in Downingtown, for a total of 18 clients in Chester County. In June, eight men moved into Don Guanella House at Notre Dame, a 3400-square-foot community residence built on the grounds of the former Notre de Lourdes Parish in Ridley Township, which was ordered by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput to close July 1 and to merge with Our Lady of Peace Parish in Milmont Park. The merger has been appealed to the Vatican. In September, archdiocesan officials apparently abandoned a proposal to tear down the Notre Dame rectory and build three more Don Guanella houses on the property after they were met with resistance from township commissioners. This summer, 16 men moved into a cottage at Divine Providence Village in Marple, which was founded for developmentally disabled women, who will continue to occupy five other cottages. Some of the women were able to transition into the community, according to former Don Guanella administrator the Rev. Dennis Weber, director of mission identity and integration in the Developmental Program Division of Catholic Social Services for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Gavin said by the end of November, Catholic Social Services officials plan to move a total of 22 men into four community residences not on parish properties. They are in Aston and Springfield townships and in the Boothwyn postal section of Delaware County. Gavin could not confirm the municipality of the Boothwyn residence. On Sept. 11, a meeting was held for members of St. John Fisher Parish in the Boothwyn section of Upper Chichester to hear a proposal by Don Guanella administrators to lease 2.5 to 3 acres of parish property along Chichester Avenue for the construction of three group homes. Gavin said the St. John Fisher property is being considered, but there is no confirmation that a Don Guanella home will go there. Eight more Don Guanella residents are expected to be moved to a community residence on Our Lady of Charity Parish property in Brookhaven by next Feb. 1 and eight more are expected to be moved to Duffy Hall in Northeast Philadelphia by the end of next April. Don Guanella’s day program for about 250 clients including developmentally disabled women from Divine Providence Village, was due to be relocated to the former grade school on the campus of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in the Secane section of Ridley Township in August. For many years, up until June 2012, the Delaware County Intermediate Unit rented part of the original Don Guanella School building for $500,000 a year for classes for special education students. They are now educated in Delaware County public school districts. Archdiocesan officials determined that it was not financially viable for the archdiocese to sustain the Don Guanella campus with just state reimbursement for services for the developmentally disabled clients. The 213-acre parcel comprising Don Guanella Village went on the market April 8, 2013, after the archbishop determined the grounds would be underutilized and could be a source of revenue to help ameliorate the archdiocese’s financial woes. Gavin noted that the net proceeds available after the Don Guanella property closing costs will be applied to lessening the estimated $49.8 million underfunding of the Archdiocesan Trust and Loan Fund. The shortfall was reduced in May after an allocation of $30 million from the 60-year lease of the archdiocese’s 13 cemeteries by StoneMor Partners of Levittown, Bucks County, the second largest cemetery owner and operator of cemeteries in the nation. They include SS. Peter & Paul Cemetery in Marple across Sproul Road from Don Guanella, Immaculate Heart of Mary Cemetery in Upper Chichester, Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon and St. Michael’s Cemetery in Chester. Gavin said archdiocesan officials have also entered an agreement to sell the 454-plus-acre Mary Immaculate Center property in Northampton County for $5.5 million to David T. Davis, who has not yet determined its use. Archdiocese Chief Financial Officer Tim O’Shaughnessy, noted, “We expect that the proceeds from these transactions should be sufficient to fully satisfy the remaining shortfall in trust and loan. If the proceeds fall short of what is necessary, we will apply amounts from the sale of remaining pledged properties as needed.” About $11.5 million from the cemeteries transaction has been allocated to addressing the underfunding of archdiocesan priests’ pensions, along with nearly $3.7 million from the September sale to Woodbine Partners of 55-plus acres from a portion of the St. John Vianney Center for treatment of behavioral problems for the religious in Chester County.
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