Records show how much St. Charles Borromeo Seminary property fetched in last month’s sale

Main Line Health paid $43.5 million for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 72-acre Wynnewood seminary property, which is across Lancaster Avenue from the health system’s Lankenau Medical Center, Montgomery County records show.

Main Line said when the sale was announced last month that it would continue to use the St. Charles Borromeo property for education, while exploring other options — complicated by the property’s historic designation by Lower Merion officials last summer.

There was a time when Main Line was working on a proposal to open a senior-care facility on the property in partnership with Abramson Center for Jewish Life, but the health system did not mention that as a possibility last month.

Since 2013, the archdiocese has been working on a plan to raise money from the seminary property. Under the latest iteration, the archdiocese is negotiating with the Sisters of St. Francis, the sponsors of Neumann University, on the purchase of a property near Neumann that the Sisters own to build new seminary buildings.

“The sale proceeds will be used to purchase property, construct new buildings, and create a long-term endowment,” said Ken Gavin, spokesman for the archdiocese. “As the Seminary is a separately incorporated institution, none of the sale proceeds will be used for any sexual abuse settlements or legal costs relative to such matters.”

Separately, the archdiocese said Wednesday that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput had appointed Marc A. Fisher to succeed Timothy O’Shaughnessy as chief financial officer, effective July 1. Fisher, 46, has worked at the archdiocese since 2011, most of that time as director of the Office for Parish Services and Support.

O’Shaughnessy, who left at the end of April, had been chief financial officer since 2012 and played a crucial role in steering the church through turbulent years of financial recovery from years of losses.