Renovations of Lower Merion’s PALM center set to be complete by December

LOWER MERION — With work well underway on the renovations of the Palm Center in Ardmore and construction of a new Ardmore Avenue Community Center, township officials recently provided an update on the projects.

Driving or walking down Ardmore Avenue near Spring Avenue, it’s not hard to see the construction at the PALM and the work being done across the street at the Vernon V. Young Memorial Park.

The over $15 million project includes major renovations of the PALM and the construction of a new Ardmore Avenue Community Center.

During a recent township meeting, Commissioner Scott Zelov asked Donna Heller, director of Parks and Recreation for Lower Merion, when the work would be completed at the PALM.

“That should be completed by December of this year,” Heller responded.

The reconstruction of the PALM, which stands for Positive Aging in Lower Merion, is part of that larger project that includes renovation of the PALM and building a new Ardmore Avenue Community Center.

Recently, the township also posted a construction schedule for the work. The schedule shows work on the PALM ending Dec. 1, 2025.

The Ardmore Avenue Community Center opened in 1978 and was initially intended to last only 10 years. However, a new building was never constructed, and it has been in use for nearly 50 years.

Now, as part of the larger project, work on the new Ardmore Avenue Community Center is scheduled to take place from April 2025 to October 2026.

After the PALM building closed for its renovation, the programs were moved to the Ardmore Avenue Community Center.

Once work is completed on the PALM’s renovations, they intend to relocate the current occupants of the old Ardmore Avenue Community Center building into the PALM building, which would mean the PALM and the Ardmore Community Center would share that new space.

“At that point in January, about the end of January, the existing Ardmore Community Center will be coming down probably within the next month,” Heller said.

The existing Ardmore Avenue Community Center is scheduled for demolition in January 2026.

Other related projects include the construction of a new bathhouse for the Ardmore Avenue swimming pool, scheduled to commence early next year. The demolition of the old bath house took place early this year, which forced Lower Merion to close the pool this summer.

A new parking lot is scheduled to be constructed in early 2026, and a new park playground is set to be built between September and December 2025. There will also be a new splash pad, scheduled for completion by fall 2025.