The Upper Darby School District is in talks with Prospect Medical Holdings to buy one of its shuttered hospitals.
Superintendent Dan McGarry said the school district is interested in buying Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill for $2 million.
“Any opportunity we have to improve our facilities for our kids in this community, it is an exciting opportunity,” McGarry said.
Delaware County Memorial Hospital has been vacant since November 2022. The Pennsylvania Department of Health shut the hospital down due to inadequate staffing.
In a densely populated area with limited space, McGarry says the old hospital could be used as an elementary school. But that’s just one possibility. Upper Darby High School is about a quarter mile down the street.
“The closeness to Upper Darby High School would give us some opportunity,” McGarry said. “The high school has 4,400 students in it right now, so it could give us flexibility with the high school.”
Morena Garland, who lives in the township, said she’s all on board.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Garland said. “I wish we could have our hospital back, but unfortunately, we can’t. If we can’t have the hospital, go another way.”
McGarry stressed that nothing is set in stone and there could be challenges in buying the property from financially-strapped Prospect Medical Holdings. CBS News Philadelphia reached out to the company but did not hear back.
“There’s past taxes that are owned, delinquent taxes on the property that we’re working though,” McGarry said. “It’s in bankruptcy court, so there’s many miles to go to know if this is even an opportunity, and who knows, somebody else might want to go after that property as well.”
McGarry says he’s waiting to see how the property gets handled in court. The school board would have to vote on the purchase for it to be approved.