Developer miffed at Main Line Health over St. Charles Seminary parcel
The moment that developer Bill Burris learned in March 2013 that St. Charles Borromeo Seminary wanted to sell or lease the bulk of its Wynnewood campus, including the landmark chapel, he started working on a proposal he thought was perfect for the site.
The moment that developer Bill Burris learned in March 2013 that St. Charles Borromeo Seminary wanted to sell or lease the bulk of its Wynnewood campus, including the landmark chapel, he started working on a proposal he thought was perfect for the site.
Burris, part-owner of a senior-living firm in New Jersey, wanted to create a mix of senior apartments, assisted-living units, and a facility, potentially in partnership with Main Line Health, where individuals could get short-term medical care after surgery or an illness.
The 45-acre parcel encompasses the palatial college building, built in 1928, that dominates the view of the grounds from Lancaster Avenue.
After years of work, including an October 2014 joint presentation to the seminary board with Main Line Health chief executive Jack Lynch, Burris expected to learn in December whether the board would choose his plan, which came with a $25 million offer.
Main Line Health and Burris, who also owns Burris Construction Co. of Moorestown, did not a have a formal partnership. Still, what Burris learned on Dec. 9 shocked him.
The seminary's chief financial officer told him, according to Burris' affidavit in a resulting Montgomery County Court case, that "a deal has been entered into between the seminary board and Main Line Health" on the sale of the property.
Upset by the prospect of being cut out of the project, Burris turned to the courts to block a sale to Main Line Health, though legal filings by Burris' attorney, Paul R. Rosen, said nothing prevents the seminary from selling the property to a third party.
None of the parties would comment on the litigation.
In a statement last week, Main Line Health, among the financially strongest health systems in the region, acknowledged interest in the seminary property, across Lancaster Avenue from its Lankenau Medical Center, because it "offers an ideal location for potential future uses that could complement Main Line Health's charitable mission."
"While Main Line Health has had discussions with the seminary, there is no binding commitment with respect to the seminary property at this time," said the statement from the health system, which owns four acute-care hospitals.
A spokesman for the seminary, which has close ties to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia but is a separate entity with its own board, confirmed that there was no agreement of sale.
The litigation could be a setback for St. Charles Borromeo, which has benefited recently from increased enrollment but needs millions of dollars to renovate older buildings on its upper campus, where the seminary decided to consolidate operations in 2013.
When it comes to the immediate goal of raising money for the seminary, the independent Main Line Health proposal might be considered superior because it is not contingent on Lower Merion Township approvals and includes an option on the upper campus should the seminary decide to sell that, too.
Real estate experts have said the parcel is considered difficult to develop because of opposition in Lower Merion to retail at the site or residences that would bring more children to the school district.
The formal application process for development of the seminary property that is for sale has not started, said Lower Merion's assistant township manager, Bob Duncan.
Burris' history as a builder of nursing homes and other facilities for seniors stretches back to the 1980s. Recently, his company has built post-acute-care facilities for Genesis Healthcare Inc. in Voorhees and Moorestown.
In a June 2014 email, Lynch, the Main Line Health CEO, told Bishop Timothy C. Senior, rector of the seminary, about a visit to the facility Burris built for Genesis in Moorestown: "We all came away very favorably impressed with the concept."
According to Burris' affidavit, he contacted Main Line Health at the urging of seminary officials, who were concerned that Main Line, as an neighbor, might object to health-care facilities across from Lankenau Hospital.
In the affidavit, Burris said he had no idea his potential partner was negotiating with the seminary on a separate deal.
In a Jan. 14 court filing, Rosen, Burris' lawyer, argued that Main Line Health's joint promotion of the project to the seminary board made the health system subject to Pennsylvania law on partnerships and joint ventures, even though Burris and Main Line never formalized their relationship.
That meant, Rosen's filing said, that Burris could not take the deal from Main Line Health and Main Line Health could not take it from Burris.
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