Dranoff gets another win in Ardmore project

 

On the evening Dranoff Properties was celebrating the topping off its $90 million One Riverside project in Philadelphia, the real estate developer happened to top off another lingering situation.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed on Wednesday an opinion handed down by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in a case concerning a project in Ardmore that Dranoff has sought to develop for nearly a decade.

What may have been the last obstacle to Dranoff's controversial One Ardmore Place project was removed.

The situation stems from a ruling handed down last December when the Commonwealth Court dismissed a lawsuit initiated by Save Ardmore Coalition, a citizens group that sought to block state funds that were issued to Dranoff to financially support the Ardmore project. It is slated to be developed on a surface parking lot on Cricket Avenue and has been controversial because of its density, location and use of state funds, among other issues.

In what was seen as a last ditch effort to thwart its development, the group tried to convince the court that $10.5 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, or RACP, funds the state previously awarded to the $56 million project was a misappropriation of money. The group involved Beth Greenspan, Sheila Murnaghan, Todd Hart, Douglas Muth and Michael Frank, according to court documents.

The Commonwealth Court didn’t buy that and neither did the state’s Supreme Court.

It’s not totally surprising the court ruled in this manner. Save Ardmore was essentially asking the court to reconsider how all RACP funds are distributed to development projects across the state and potentially roll back how it has doled out that money.

Dranoff’s development has been in the works since 2008 when the real estate company was selected as master developer of a project that used the Ardmore train station as the anchor to residential and commercial development.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal