Penn Medicine Completes Purchase of 12-Acre Parcel in Montgomery Township

Tony Di Domizio | North Penn Now•

Gwynmont Farms residents in Montgomery Township have a new chapter in the saga that is Penn Medicine’s proposal of a four-story, 150,000-square-foot ambulatory medical outpatient facility and adjacent 52,000-square-foot parking garage next to their neighborhood.

According to Montco.Today and the Philadelphia Business Journal, the health system now owns the undeveloped 12-acre DeKalb Road parcel where it wants to build the center. Per Montgomery County property land records, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania paid $7.5 million for the $1.8 million-assessed land in October, which had been owned by Hawthorne Court Associates LP since 2003, according to county property records.

The property at 200 DeKalb Pike is zoned C-Commercial. According to property records, effective Jan. 1, 2024, the parcel has undergone a reverse subdivision from four separate parcels into one new parcel.

According to the township, no formal land development application has been submitted at this time. Penn Medicine last made a presentation to the board in January 2022. On Sept. 12, 2022, following a public hearing, supervisors unanimously approved a zoning ordinance amendment to allow ambulatory health care centers by conditional use in the C-Commercial zoning district.

In February 2023, Brinder Singh Gill, a representative of the Gwynmont Farms neighbors opposed to the plan, laid out their major concerns to the township and Penn Medicine, in a North Penn Now Letter to the Editor, namely safety and privacy concerns, light pollution, and traffic issues. According to Gill, 4,000 extra vehicles will result in "horrendous traffic, the inability for us to exit our community, traffic backups at Welsh and North Wales Road as well as Welsh and Stump Road. People will inevitably make a wrong turn into our development, and if late for an appointment, speed to make the appointment and create concerns for our young children.”

The parcel in question has a long history of contention when it comes to commercial development and failed-to-come-to-fruition plans; it was the subject of contention 14 years ago when a Hampton Inn hotel development was approved by supervisors in September 2011, according to Lansdale Patch.

Another proposal then followed from Surati Management — owner of Holiday Inn in Towamencin as SMG Kulpsville LLC — and Trefoil Properties, called Hawthorne Court, that included a four-story, 83-room hotel and two separate commercial buildings.

At that time, residents expressed concerns over safety, lighting, traffic, and parking issues.
Read more on the resident opposition here.