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A filled-to-capacity crowd at Merion Tribute House on Tuesday night (February 13) listened to representatives from Main Line Health (MLH) make a pitch for what they are calling a “Wellness Village,” to be built on the former property of St. Charles Seminary. Members of Merion, Short Ridge, and Indian Creek Civic Associations, as well as a group called Seminary Neighbors, heard the presentation and were almost unanimously, enthusiastically opposed to the plan in its current form.
The proposal that MLH presented includes:
- A 400,000-square-foot outpatient facility (which is 1.5 times the size of all of Penn At Radnor
- A mix of independent, assisted living, and memory care units.
- A boutique hotel
- Condominiums, townhouses and rental units
- 5 miles of walk/bike trails
- A shopping center with 20,000 square feet of retail
There was a consensus among the residents that the MLH plan is a massive, for-profit development wrapped in the veneer of a healthcare facility. However, according to MLH, limiting the project to just the senior living and outpatient facilities would not be economically viable.
One resident pointed out that what MLH wants to build at St. Charles will be comparable in size and density to the entire borough of Narberth. None of the spokespersons from the hospital group contradicted her claim.
When asked why more of the new facilities couldn’t be built on Lankenau’s existing property, the residents were told that was impossible because the hospital had already agreed with neighbors on that side of Lancaster Avenue, to leave the open space as it exists today.
MLH has submitted a request to Lower Merion Township to pass an ordinance that would create a new Zoning Class, a “Wellness Village.” Without the passage of such an ordinance it will be virtually impossible for MLH to build anything close to what they are proposing at St. Charles.
Disclosure
The author’s home is adjacent to the former seminary.