Nuns terminate Drexel property sale to Bensalem developer. Now he's suing to buy the land

view original post

The plans for a proposed age-restricted development on the grounds of the former National Shrine of Saint Mother Katharine Drexel in Bensalem are in jeopardy after the religious order terminated its pending sale agreement with the developer.

The Bensalem developer picked by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to purchase the 44-acre property off Bristol Pike in 2017 is now suing the Drexel-founded order for reneging on the deal.

The lawsuit filed in Bucks County Common Pleas Court earlier this year raises new questions about the future of the property, including the former shrine that once housed Drexel’s body and the historic St. Elizabeth Chapel.

Developer Len Poncia, president of Aquinas Realty Partners, and AG Saint Katharine Drexel LP have not responded to messages seeking an update on the project.

In an email, Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament President Sister Stephanie Henry declined to comment, saying “there are no updates about our Bensalem property at this time.”

But in the lawsuit before Common Pleas Court Judge Denise Bowman, Poncia alleges the order is breaching its contract by refusing to complete the execution of the proposed sale. The parties reached an agreement in 2017 with the sale contingent on the developer securing local government approvals for his plans, according to court documents.

The original sale price reached was $12.5 million, but as recently as December the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament agreed to accept $9 million, according to the lawsuit.

Since the parties originally entered into the sales agreement, it has been amended and extended eight times at Poncia’s request, according to the lawsuit. The most recently re-activated agreement expired on Dec. 31, 2024, according to the lawsuit.

Before it expired, Poncia and the order were negotiating the terms of a new agreement to extend the deadline for executing the sale to Dec. 31, 2025, according to the lawsuit. The negotiations were handled through their respective attorneys in emails, which were included in the lawsuit filing.

The lawsuit contends that both parties reached a consensus on the new terms, citing a Jan. 14 email where the attorney representing the order confirmed that the sisters accepted the reduced sale price and other terms.

The next day the attorney for Poncia responded, confirming the order’s email with the new agreed purchase price and other items, but he indicated his client wanted to discuss the wording of a new term the order added. It involved Poncia’s reimbursement responsibility to the order for an alleged failure to provide adequate oversight and protection of the property.

Eight days later — on Jan. 23 — the attorney for the order emailed Poncia’s attorney saying “after much prayer, consideration and discussion” the sisters were terminating discussions with Poncia and not extending the sales agreement.

“We request that Len provide the blueprints of, and keys to, the buildings, as well as access to the security cameras to the Sisters as soon as reasonably possible so there will not be any disruption in monitoring the property,” the order’s attorney Catherine Ward wrote, adding, “They wish him the best in the future.”

The email did not provide a reason for ending the sale.

In his lawsuit, Poncia contends that he had a “binding contract formed through email exchanges,” and that he remains “ready, willing and able to close on the property,” according to the lawsuit.

The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament contend that the most recent sale agreement with Poncia expired Dec. 31, 2024, and the sale did not occur and no extension was signed, according to a response to the allegations filed with the court.  The order alleges that an extension it approved to continue negotiations also expired Jan. 14, 2025.

The lawsuit does not state the reason for the delay in closing the sale.

Drexel timeline: What is happening with Drexel shrine property in Bensalem? A timeline

Future of Drexel site long planned

There has been much community anticipation over the future of the former National Shrine property since the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament announced its decision to sell it in 2016. The property was a popular Bucks County attraction seeing as many as 6,000 a year visit the site.

Drexel, a Philadelphia heiress, founded the order and established the motherhouse in Bensalem in 1891. She used her inheritance to serve the Black and Native American communities. Pope John Paul II canonized her as the second American saint in 2000.

Her body was entombed on the property until it was moved to the new shrine in her honor at Cathedral-Basilica of SS Peter and Paul in Philadelphia when the shrine closed. A cemetery for Drexel order members on the Bensalem property will remain.

One month after the shrine closed to the public in December 2017, the order announced its intention to sell the property to Aquinas Realty Partners, which planned to build an age-restricted community. Over the next few years, Aquinas secured necessary zoning and planning approvals from Bensalem for “AQ St. Katharine Drexel Estates.”

The land development plans made public in 2022 showed 90 townhouses, 260 adult rental units and a 300-bed senior living center with assisted and memory-care units, which would use part of the existing motherhouse and preserve the historic St. Elizabeth chapel.

Poncia told township officials that he anticipated breaking ground in 2023, but no work has started at the vacant property.

PennDOT issued permits for required road improvements and new accesses for the complex in December 2021, but the work has not been completed, agency spokesman Brad Rudolph said.

The construction of an off-site pumping station and forced main system that the complex requires also is on hold per Poncia’s direction, according to Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority spokesman Brian Dries.

The motherhouse and other buildings have been boarded up after they were hit multiple times by vandals targeting the copper piping and tubing, leading to new security measures including surveillance cameras.

Most recently vandals removed roof tiles on the chapel to get to copper underneath, resulting in water damage inside the church, according to Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo.

Earlier this month the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament installed a new 8-foot-tall fence around the buildings and other structures on the property to keep out trespassers, DiGirolamo said.

(This story was republished to correct a spelling error in photo captions)

Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com. Reporter Lacey Latch contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Developer sues Drexel nuns over Bensalem shrine property sale