These are the last days of The Sumney Tavern and the old Country Bride & Gent in Upper Gwynedd.
A developer who paid more than $3 million for both properties is weeks away from demolishing the two vacant community landmarks that met commuters for decades on the curve of Sumneytown Pike by the railroad bridge near the Merck campus.
According to The Reporter, Upper Gwynedd Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell made the surprise announcement at this week’s board of commissioners session.
“The Country Bride and Gent and The Sumney buildings will likely be demolished in the coming weeks,” Zadell said. “We did get a demolition permit for those properties. I think they’re being demolished in preparation for a sale to a new owner.”
The Sumney Tavern suddenly closed in Summer 2018 and Country Bride & Gent moved its location to South Broad Street in Hatfield Township, opening in 2019.
Developer Bruce Goodman, who oversees Provco Pinegood Sumneytown LLC, was before commissioners back in 2016, and again in 2019, to try to sell them on a “Super Wawa” convenience store and gas station, per The Reporter.
After several public hearings in 2017, the commissioners, according to The Reporter, vetoed the first version of plans in July 2017 and did the same to a revised version in November 2017. Their reasons for denial focused on safety and traffic concerns, per the reports.
Goodman then took the township to court. Litigation continued in 2020 and the township came out victorious in the end.
Goodman and Provco Pinegood Sumneytown LLC are poised to demolish and rebuild the Sumney-Forge Shopping Center into a Wawa at Sumneytown Pike and Valley Forge Road. Provco bought the property in 2018 for $1.8 million, per county property records.
Read more on the demolition and the Sumney-Forge development here.
See also:
Talks of Single Hauler Trash for Lansdale Resurface During Borough Council Worksession
Towamencin Government Study Commission Discusses Schedule and Spending, Fills 1 Vacancy
Malagari Announces $156,000 Grant to Improve Traffic Safety in Lansdale
Hatfield Township Eyeing New Police Station on Cowpath Road
Lansdale Borough Passes 2023 Budget with 16% Tax Increase
