'Astronomical' Cost To Raze Pennypack, Hatboro Councilman Says

HATBORO, PA —With a survey of what to do with the Pennypack property now concluded, one option that residents can pretty much rule out is the razing of the old Spring Avenue school. It's too costly.

At the Borough Council's meeting last month, Councilwoman Nicole Shay gave an update on the status of the Loller Academy Building, saying that work still needs to be completed and that borough staff would remain at Pennypack —its temporary home for more than a year —possibly for the rest of the summer.

Council President George Bollendorf mentioned too that the building would receive bathroom upgrades since there are "kid-size toilets here" for what was once an elementary school.

That brought a resident to ask when the building would be razed.

"We're not going to knock down the building," Bollendorf responded. "The cost to raze the building was astronomical."

Bollendorf later told Patch that the figure to raze the building was around $1 million.

The council president said the borough's initiative in purchasing Pennypack for $600,000 was to keep it out of the hands of a developer.

"We've had meetings and discussions about keeping this building," Bollendorf said. "They couldn't build anything here because it's a floodplain.

The resident asked about the costs of maintenance and upgrades since the building is old.

"Where's the breaking point? The school district made sure we paid top dollar to acquire the property," the resident said.

Council Vice President Dave Stockton said the building is generating some income as the borough begins to utilize it more as a community center. The borough's government has also set up shop in the building and the council and other governmental bodies have held their meetings there as well.

"It better serves the community by being here, with keeping the building," Shay said. "We've had lots of events here and on weekends."

The school has served the borough as it awaits renovations at Loller, which underwent the installation of a new HVAC system among other upgrades.

A survey to determine the building's future use was launched in February and ended in mid-June.

The survey requested resident feedback on potential improvements to the property. It was unknown when the survey results would be released.