From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
Chariot Allaire Partners, the new owner of the former Crozer-Chester Medical Center property, is working with Penn Medicine to plan out health care services at the main campus, the company announced at a virtual town hall Wednesday night.
But after a months-long, “extensive outreach effort” to health care providers in the region and beyond, no entity — including Penn Medicine — has yet agreed to operate the hospital in Upland.
“We cannot promise any outcome, but our hope is to have more clarity on this process to restore a sustainable path of health care for the residents of Delaware County and specifically southern Delaware County in the first quarter of 2027,” said Yoel Polack, founder and principal of Chariot Equities.
Likewise, no suitors have stepped forward to provide behavioral health care at the west campus formerly known as the Community Campus in Chester.
Although Polack shared aspirations of using the north campus, which is the current location of the historic Old Main building, for “complementary medical uses,” he said that plan hinges on finding an entity to run the hospital.
“If we don’t end up moving fast enough or being successful on the main campus, we are also making sure that to plan for alternative uses [for the north campus] that would be beneficial to the municipality and to the region with this large swath of land that we believe could be used very productively for the community and the larger Delaware County,” Polack said.
It is unclear how the community felt about these updates. The Zoom comments were disabled and resident questions were funneled through a moderator.
While the hospital and its adjacent campuses are still far from reopening, a free medical clinic could begin offering primary care inside an old office space on the main campus as early as March, if all goes to plan.
Neumann University submitted a grant application to the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, detailing the private Catholic university’s desire to use nurse practitioner students and faculty to oversee visits.
The Independence Blue Cross Foundation reviewed the application Oct. 15. Judy Neubauer, associate dean of the graduate nursing program at Neumann University, said she expects to hear good news on whether the project will receive funding.
“It’s a unique opportunity for the nurse practitioner students to learn in an environment where many of the residents don’t have the funds or the means to be able to seek medical care outside of their local community,” Neubauer said. “Our hope is that Neumann will be able to take this model that we’re using and duplicate it in other places that also lack access to care.”
Crozer-Chester Medical Center was once the crown jewel of Crozer Health, a four-hospital health system in Delaware County that closed for good in May 2025, turning Pennsylvania’s second-densest county into a health care desert.
Prospect Medical Holdings, Crozer Health’s former owner, sold its most valuable real estate assets during bankruptcy proceedings last summer.
The Upper Darby School District bought Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill. KQT Aikens Partners purchased Springfield Hospital in Springfield and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park.
Chariot Equities and Allaire Health Services finalized its acquisition of Crozer-Chester Medical Center in January.
In April, Chariot Allaire Partners announced its plans to “rightsize” the inpatient hospital to one-tenth of its size, find an operator and reopen the 64-acre campus in a phased approach.
