Eli Kahn buys 50 acres from Archdiocese

E. Kahn Development Corp. has made two strategic acquisitions that will enhance existing land holdings in its portfolio.

In the largest purchase in terms of dollars and size, the developer paid $3.8 million to buy nearly 50 acres, which sit along Woodbine Road adjacent to the Downingtown Country Club in Downingtown, Pa., from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Kahn made the acquisition in partnership with Adam Loew and the Estate of Jack Loew.

The church operates St. John Vianney Center on about 15 acres of the tract and will continue to do so. Eli Kahn said he is still determining what to do with the land.

“This is ground we had been trying to buy for a long time and we’re not exactly sure what we are going to do with it yet,” he said. “We’re going to take our time and figure out what to do with it.”

In the other acquisition, Kahn paid $1.8 million for 144 Lancaster Ave. in Devon, Pa. Beatrice Goldfine and Carole S. Ben-Maimon were the sellers.

The parcel has a Santander Bank branch on it that will likely remain for the foreseeable future. The site will round out Kahn’s holdings in that corner of Devon. Kahn last year bought the former Waterloo Gardens property, which consists of six acres, and this bank pad connects to it.

“It was one of the properties we thought we should go after,” Kahn said.

Kahn is working with Urban Outfitters on a mixed-use development proposal for the site that will be called Devon Yard. It would also be adjacent to the Devon Horse Show.

In the meantime, Kahn is also working on buying a building across from the Devon Horse Show that originally housed a Studebaker dealership. It totals two acres and settlement is expected in about three weeks.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal