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July 12, 2007
By Sam Strike
A non-profit Jewish foundation has purchased a 35-acre Bryn Mawr campus from The American College for about $30 million.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia will own the property, and Akiba Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school currently located in Merion, will occupy at least two of the six buildings on the campus.
Two buildings will continue to be leased to The American College and Villanova University. The structures that will be occupied by the day school will need to be renovated to be made appropriate to house Akiba, which will be renamed the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy.
Jack M. Barrack, who was killed in a plane crash more than 40 years ago, was the brother of Leonard Barrack, a Philadelphia attorney and Akiba grad who donated a $5 million endowment gift to the school,
according to Ira M. Schwartz, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation. art of the endowment agreement was a re-naming, he said.
The “generous” $5 million gift was independent of the school’s move, Schwartz said, but it has become “complementary” and has stimulated other gifts to the school for tuition support.
Akiba administrators and the Board of Directors were in the process of planning to renovate its current facilities when the opportunity was presented, said Jay A. Dorsch, who was elected president of Akiba’s Board last month.
Dorsch said that the school “will be the anchor for that site” by occupying the buildings now called the Gregg Conference Center and Mitchell Hall, but declined to use the word “tenant,” citing confidentiality.
For Akiba, the move will provide a much larger campus and allow for growth of the student population, which currently covers the tri-state area. Schwartz said that the school will sell is 6.5 acre campus, which he said has been inadequate in housing the 320-or-so sixth through twelfth grade students.
“The move offers Akiba the chance to have first rate, literally world class facilities,” Schwartz said. Science classrooms and a gymnasium are among the list of necessary creations that will take place before the school’s targeted opening in Fall 2008.
Schwartz said the school’s new location, about five miles from the former, will still be accessible to current students living around the area. Of the Merion area, he said, “There’s a heavy Jewish population. there, but there are many people who have moved out along Main Line, and that population has never been adequately served.”
The American College, established 80 years ago, provides education in the financial service areas. Its leafy campus has been on the market for one and a half years.
May 10, 2007
By Sam Strike
The American College in Bryn Mawr is still looking for a buyer for its 35-acre Bryn Mawr campus, and it might – might – have found a prospective buyer. In August, a tentative deal with local development company O'Neill. Properties to build residential units there fell through. A number of institutions have had a gander at the grassy campus of the college, which caters primarily to professions working in the financial services area via “distance education.” There is seemingly no need for the six buildings the college has on its campus.
But one institution that may be in the market for more space is Akiba Hebrew Academy in Merion Station The college property is zoned for institutional use, and if it ends up being purchased by an institution, that would please Radnor commissioner Lisa Paolino, whose ward includes the campus. “We’re aware that they’re still negotiating, and in due diligence,” Paolino said of the two institutions.
Radnor Township has sent a letter to Akiba advising them that their intended use as they have relayed in meetings and in letters are consistent with the zoning of the parcel as planned institutional, according to township manager Dave Bashore. If the plans discussed so far are those that end up happening in reality, the school would not need any zoning relief or land development approval. But it’s not a ‘who’ the neighbors would like to see, but rather a ‘what’, said Paolino. “They would like the property to remain as natural as possible, the way it is, and not have a big impact on the community.” Paolino said she has made it clear that the community would have hard time accepting a change in use.
Still, a school could bring peak traffic to already crowded roads and intersections nearby. Of Akiba, Paolino said, “I welcome the diversity into the community. It’s one of the oldest, most prestige Jewish day schools in the country.” In fact, according to its Web site, the school, founded in 1946, is the oldest community Jewish secondary day school in North America. Also according to the Web site, this year a little over 300 students were enrolled in the school, which educates children grades 6 to 12 on its small Lower Merion campus.
Akiba and American College representatives both had no comment when called for this article. American College has expressed interest in eventually leasing back one building from whomever the buyer turns out to be to continue to run its institution. Currently, Villanova University leases a building to house some of its administrative staff.
April 26, 2007
Improvements proposed for dangerous Bryn Mawr intersection
By Sam Strike
Radnor and Lower Merion township officials are working on a plan that would improve the notoriously perilous “five points” intersection where County Line Road and Bryn Mawr Avenue intersect in Bryn Mawr. The intersection’s property is ostensibly split between the two townships. Some of the changes currently proposed include dedicated left-turn lanes on County Line, a right-turn lane southbound on Bryn Mawr, and a change in the turn onto Glenbrook Avenue.
To accomplish this, road widening will have to take place, by using right of ways. On the Radnor Township side, a number of private property holders would have to lose some right of way property, like the Wawa, which could lose an entrance, but gain parking spaces. The only impact on the Lower Merion side would be on Bryn Mawr Hospital property, said LM Commissioner Scott Zelov (Ward 10). The intersection improvement initiative recently began during the Bryn Mawr Hospital expansion process.
Towards end of the land development process, in discussions nearing the commissioners’ final vote, the township encouraged the hospital to make meaningful contribution to traffic at the intersection, Zelov said
So, it apparently did. According to Zelov, the hospital commissioned a traffic study, contributed the necessary right-of-ways on their property to allow for road widening, and pledged $600,000 towards the project. They were incorporated into the conditions of approval for the hospital’s then-proposed expansion.
On April 12, Radnor and Lower Merion representatives met with local landowners to discuss the proposed changes. There was consensus that the intersection needs to be improved, said Radnor Commissioner Lisa Paolino (Ward 5). But some Radnor business owners had concerns, especially over the change to the Glenbrook Avenue entryway. The current plan proposes to cut down the entry to the street from two places to one, and add green space there, which would take away some parking spaces in front of a row of small stores. Paolino said they are working on how to provide those spaces elsewhere. In terms of traffic safety, the intersection is often a spot for accidents, mostly involving left turns.
On Radnor’s part of the intersection, in the past three years there have been 27 documented car accidents, according to Radnor’s traffic safety department. Zelov said that the traffic analysis of the intersection “shows significant improvement” if the proposed project is done. There has been no official commitment by either municipality, but there has been interest expressed by both Radnor and Lower Merion, according to Zelov.
Discussion of the proposed ideas is slated to be on the Lower Merion commissioners’ agenda May 2 Paolino said there will be a discussion on the intersection plans at a future Radnor commissioner meeting
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