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The Delco 10 Miler is back with a new course and twice as many runners
The Delco 10 Miler race is back for what organizers hope will be a bigger and better second lap. Changes for 2026 include a revised course, more than twice the number of runners, and a faster pace requirement.

The race will take place on Oct. 4. Registration is open. This year’s race will be capped at 2,500 runners, up from 1,200 last year. About 700 runners registered in the first 24 hours, race director Kevin Nolan said.

While the inaugural race was largely seen as a success by race organizers and runners, Nolan said, there were still some issues to address, particularly along the route.

Some residents and drivers passing through the area were unhappy with road closures, which cut a long swath across the county. The course‘s adjustments should mean fewer closures along main roads.

“Logistically with all this traffic, it’s a tough race to manage,” Nolan said. “It’s tougher than the Philadelphia ones … because I’ve talked to all the race directors and they don’t have the issues that we have to deal with, with all this traffic.”

Course changes

The race will again start at Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence and end at Subaru Park in Chester. Last year, the race shut down parts of Route 252 and Route 320, as well as portions of Third, Fourth, and Fifth Streets in Chester, including a loop that took runners past Subaru Park before returning.

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This year, runners will turn west on Rose Valley Road in Nether Providence and travel through residential streets before crossing Route 320 and heading into Chester and Widener University’s campus. The course crosses I-95 on the Melrose Avenue bridge again before heading south toward Subaru Park. The loop at the end has been eliminated.

The new course:
- Starts at Rose Tree Park South on Providence Road/Route 252
- Right on West Rose Valley Road
- Left on Bickmore Drive
- Left on Sheffield Drive
- Left on Georgetown Road (becomes Media Parkway)
- Left on Chestnut Parkway (becomes Chestnut Street)
- Right on East 18th Street
- Left on Walnut Street
- Left on East 14th Street
- Right on Melrose Avenue
- Right on Morton Avenue
- Right on East Fifth Street
- Left on Penn Street
- Right on West Third Street
- Right on Tillman Street
- Left on West Fourth Street
- Left on Rainey Street
- Ends at Union Yards at Subaru Park
Getting the word out

Some residents complained to race organizers that they weren’t told ahead of time that their streets were being closed.

“As much as you try to get the word out, there are people that don’t know,” Nolan said. “So you have to do more.”

This year, volunteers will walk some sections of the route ahead of time to let residents know about the race and road closures, Nolan said.

St. John Chrysostom Catholic Church in Nether Providence told the Delco Times last year that the parish was not consulted about the race, which took place on a Sunday and impacted their Mass schedule. This year’s route avoids St. John’s, as well as St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church in Chester and some fire departments.

Faster pace

In another change this year, the race will have a faster pace requirement. Runners will have to maintain a minimum pace of 13 minutes, 30 seconds per mile. Last year’s minimum pace was 15 minutes per mile.

“Police are after us to open the course up. They were pretty aggravated last year with all the walkers,” Nolan said. “You hate to kick someone off the course.”

A few more quality-of-life improvements include more bathrooms at the start and at water stops. There will also be four staggered starts based on runner speeds.

The race will benefit The HEADstrong Foundation, Elwyn, The Riddle HealthCare Foundation, and Delco Volunteers.

This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
April 15, 2026
Nearly a year after Crozer-Chester Medical Center closed, Chester residents still struggle to access healthcare

Dawn Pierce felt heartbroken last spring when she learned that Crozer-Chester Medical Center was closing.

The hospital had long been a lifeline in a city with limited healthcare services. Many Chester residents, like Pierce, were unsure where to turn for care when the hospital’s for-profit owner, California-based Prospect Medical Holdings, declared bankruptcy and shut down Crozer and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park last spring.

“I don’t think of myself as one that will sit around and watch things happen, but I felt hopeless,” Pierce said.

Nearly a year later, Pierce and other residents say the community was left with major healthcare gaps: There are no primary care doctors or pediatricians in town. Locals who received routine care at the hospital had to switch to doctors outside the city, dealing with long drives or rides on public transportation. Some are going without care.

And many worry about whether they can make it to another hospital in time during a medical emergency.

Janice Cimabue, left, and Jamie Blair, center, with Put People First PA, after a news conference outside of the recently closed Crozer Medical Center in Delco, in Philadelphia, May 15, 2025. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

These concerns have emerged through grassroots canvassing by One Pennsylvania, which shared its findings at a news conference this month. In recent months in Chester, organizers have knocked on 4,300 doors to gauge residents’ thoughts on Crozer’s closure and encourage them to advocate for better healthcare options in the city.

The membership group focuses on issues including housing rights and environmental justice. Originally founded as part of a 2011 Pittsburgh campaign by the labor union SEIU, it became an independent organization in 2015 and expanded into the Philadelphia area in 2016.

Pierce, who heads its Chester chapter, counts herself relatively lucky: While she saw specialists at Crozer, her primary care physician was at a different health system. But her brother and his significant other spent most of last year looking for a new doctor after Crozer closed.

“I do think they finally found someone, but at this point those visits are not near Chester. They’re 20 to 30-plus minutes away,” Pierce said.

Residents told One Pennsylvania organizers they felt relief that Chester officials did find a solution for EMS services lost in the closure. The city contracted with VSMC, an ambulance company, for higher-level care on the go, including blood transfusions.

“The restoration of EMS services and ambulance for our city — this matters,” Pierce said at the event held outside a downtown church on a recent Saturday. “However, EMS is a bridge. It’s not the final destination.”

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Chester Mayor Stefan Roots told residents at the news conference that he met recently with representatives from the Crozer property’s new owner, for-profit Chariot Equities, which says it wants to restore medical services to the campus.

Roots said he couldn’t provide many details about a plan for the 64-acre campus that straddles Chester and Upland Township in Delaware County, which Chariot purchased last month for $10 million. Chariot said at the time it planned to operate a “right-sized” hospital and emergency department at the facility.

The new ownership comes after government-supported efforts failed to convince other local health systems last year to form a new nonprofit to run Crozer-Chester and other Crozer Health facilities.

Chester Mayor Stefan Roots told city residents that he met recently with representatives from the Crozer property’s new owner, for-profit Chariot Equities, which says it wants to restore medical services to the campus. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

Roots said the new owner has impressive plans, but it could take years to bring back medical services, if successful. “It’s going to take some time, it’s going to take some money, and all we can do right here is to readjust,” he said.

Delaware County Council voted Wednesday to end a disaster declaration over lost EMS services in the wake of Crozer’s closure, since communities left without services, like Chester, had been able to contract with other EMS providers, WHYY reported.

Chester resident Andrea Robinson say she’s still feeling the impact of the lost medical services.

Robinson had to find new doctors after the closure, and a family member is now traveling farther to receive care for a mental health condition once treated at Crozer. And while other area hospitals are taking patients from Chester, the influx of new patients has at times led to long wait times elsewhere.

“We are truly in need of medical services now,” she said.

February 23, 2026
The new owner of Crozer-Chester Medical Center wants to restore hospital and emergency services

The new owner of the defunct Crozer-Chester Medical Center wants to restore hospital and emergency services to the 64-acre campus that straddles Chester and Upland Township in Delaware County.

Newly formed Chariot Equities completed the $10 million purchase Wednesday. The for-profit entity said it expected within six months to have an agreement with a health system that would operate a “right-sized” hospital and emergency department at the facility that had been the county’s largest provider of those services before closing last year.

The idea is then to open the first phase within two years, Chariot said in a statement.

Chariot did not say how much it would spend on refurbishing Crozer-Chester, which had suffered from years of neglect under its two previous owners.

Chariot’s partner at Crozer-Chester is Allaire Health Services, a Jackson, N.J.-based for-profit operator of nursing homes.

The partners said they are in talks with regional and national nonprofit health systems regarding an operating partnership, but provided no details. The amount of money needed for the project would likely depend on what prospective tenants would want to do at the property.

“Our belief in Delaware County’s future, and the community’s need for sustainable healthcare access, made this an effort worth committing to well before the finish line,” said Yoel Polack, Chariot’s founder and principal.

Little is known about the new owners. Polack worked in healthcare real estate in the New York City area before setting his sights on redeveloping Crozer-Chester.

Federal records list Allaire’s CEO Benjamin Kurland as an owner of 20 nursing homes, including three in the Philadelphia area. Chariot’s statement said Allaire owns a total of 29 facilities in five states.

Philadelphia-area facilities associated with Kurland are the Center For Rehab & Nursing Washington Township, which was acquired from Jefferson Health; Riverview Estates Rehab & Senior Living Center in Riverton; and West Park Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in West Philadelphia.

Local interest?

Main Line Health has been involved in discussions about reopening emergency services at three former Crozer hospitals — Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Springfield Hospital, and Taylor Hospital — at the request of state lawmakers and the property owners, Ed Jimenez, CEO of Main Line Health, said Wednesday at a Riddle Hospital event.

Jimenez said he would “entertain the concept” of restoring emergency services at one of the hospitals as part of a partnership with other health systems, but only if it can be done on a break-even basis.

All three of the former hospital buildings visited by Main Line officials are in poor condition and were stripped of medical equipment after the closures. Main Line’s experts estimated it would cost between $15 million and $20 million just to make the emergency department at Taylor functional, Jimenez said.

Riddle Hospital celebrates $4M in state funding to expand healthcare access in Delaware County

ChristianaCare, Delaware’s largest health system, considered acquiring Crozer in 2022. Instead, it took a different path to expansion in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It is planning to open two micro-hospitals in Delaware County. The nonprofit system also took over five former Crozer outpatient locations. Its credit rating was recently downgraded by one notch because of lower profitability.

The importance of Crozer-Chester

Crozer-Chester closed in early May during the bankruptcy of owner Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., a for-profit company based in California, and after the failure of government-supported efforts to form a new nonprofit owner for Crozer-Chester and other Crozer Health facilities.

Crozer-Chester was particularly important as a safety-net provider for a low-income area of Delaware County that has few other nearby options. The Crozer system, which had four hospitals, was the county’s largest health system and largest employer for many years.

Two local Democratic officials, State Rep. Leanne Krueger and Delaware County Council member Monica Taylor, said they were encouraged by the approach being taken by Chariot and Allaire.

At Taylor Hospital, the other Crozer hospital that closed last year, new owners are also looking for healthcare tenants. Local investors bought the Ridley Park facility for $1 million. It is less than four miles from Crozer-Chester.

The same group agreed last week to pay $1 million for Springfield Hospital, another facility that had previously shut down under Prospect ownership.

January 21, 2026
The Foundation for Delaware County’s Family Village aims to close health gaps in Delaware County

Tonya Robertson was working one of her three jobs at a charter school in Chester when she broke down crying to a colleague: She was homeless, living in a domestic violence shelter with three children, and pregnant with twins.

Her co-workers suggested she talk to the school’s counselor, who gave her a stack of applications to apply for federally funded food support, at-home prenatal nurse visits, and maternal health resources, all coordinated through The Foundation for Delaware County.

The nonprofit has for almost a decade provided access to safety net programs such as Women, Infants, and Children, the nutrition program known as WIC; Healthy Start; and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food program for low-income families. It also offers a menu of other support services for families, such as a program that provides at-home prenatal visits, housing assistance, legal aid, doulas, mental health resources for new mothers, and a fathers’ support group.

“They had so many resources — things I was scared to open up my mouth about, things I didn’t want to say I needed,” said Robertson, 39, of Marcus Hook.

She said she wishes she’d known about the organization sooner, during the years she struggled to raise her three older children as a single mother.

Now the foundation is rebranding its offerings as the Family Village, in an effort to raise awareness about the nonprofit’s full range of services. Foundation leaders said that in the past, people may have connected with the organization for a specific resource, such as WIC or SNAP, without learning about other programs they could benefit from. The idea of the Family Village is to make the foundation’s services more cohesive, wrapping around those in need.

The initiative has been years in the making, but is especially timely after the county’s largest health provider, Crozer Health, closed earlier this year when its for-profit owner filed for bankruptcy. The health system had long been an anchor for Chester and the surrounding communities, providing critical access to maternity, pediatric, and mental health services.

Here’s Delaware County’s plan for addressing emergency response shortages following Crozer’s closure

“Children don’t come with instructions. We all need a helping hand at some point,” said Joanne Craig, the foundation’s chief impact officer. “We have this great continuum of resources for families, but from the outside looking in, it wasn’t always easy to see and understand.”

An ambulance drove by the entrance to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, in Upland. This hospital closed earlier this year. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

Filling gaps in Delaware County

The Foundation for Delaware County was formed in 2016, when the nonprofit Crozer-Keystone Health System was sold to Prospect Medical Holdings. When for-profit companies acquire nonprofit health systems, Pennsylvania law requires the nonprofit assets be set aside in an independent charity. Crozer’s nonprofit assets became the Foundation for Delaware County.

The foundation’s overarching mission is to support the health and welfare of Delaware County residents by coordinating government safety-net programs and creating its own offerings to help families in need. The foundation also provides millions of dollars in grants to nonprofits and charities to support public health, housing, and youth development.

With $53.9 million in net assets as of October, the foundation is the largest philanthropic organization in Delaware County, serving some 8,000 people a year.

Many of the foundation’s most used programs, such as Healthy Start, a federally funded prenatal and early childhood initiative, began before the foundation was spun out of Crozer, in response to the high infant mortality rate in Chester.

Other programs — such as one that provides cribs and safe-sleep education, and a support group for new fathers — were created in response to needs raised by families the foundation was already working with.

“We found ourselves filling gaps,” Craig said.

When Prospect said it would close the remaining Crozer hospitals, The Foundation for Delaware County was pressured by the case’s bankruptcy judge to take on part of the company’s debt to keep the hospital open until a new operator was found. The foundation shelled out $20 million to extend operations temporarily and later contributed $3 million to help former patients obtain their medical records.

The foundation’s new Family Village initiative can’t close all the gaps Crozer’s closure left — the area lost its largest emergency department and maternity ward, the only 24-7 mental health crisis center, and critical pediatric care.

ChristianaCare won an auction to take over five former Crozer outpatient locations in Broomall, Media, Glen Mills, and Havertown, and has plans to open two new micro hospitals in Aston and Springfield.

Delaware County in August selected Belmont Behavioral Health to establish a new crisis response center and expand mental health services.

But Craig said she hopes the foundation’s new approach will help families better access resources that remain available — and that they may not have known about.

Help without judgment

Before connecting with the foundation, Robertson was skeptical of organizations and programs that offered help.

Her grandfather, for instance, berated her for enrolling in SNAP and the at-home nurse program, warning her that she could end up losing her children, if coordinators decided her home and parenting weren’t good enough.

“I’m so scared to let someone in, let them come in my house and see that my house is not up to par, see that I’m struggling with this, or that I can’t feed them,” Robertson said.

“If I can’t feed them, they’re going to take my kids, and I’m going to go to jail,” she added.

Research has found that these fears are often justified, with social service workers deeming parents of color unfit at higher rates than white parents, and equating poverty with neglect.

Healthcare workers, social workers, and teachers are among so-called mandated reporters, who are required to report to Child Protective Services any suspicion of abuse. Only a fraction of reports are substantiated after being investigated, but they stoke fear and can dissuade families from seeking help.

But Robertson was working three jobs and still couldn’t feed her family, so she filled out the forms the school counselor had given her.

Her first prenatal visits through the Nurse-Family Partnership were at the domestic violence shelter where she was living.

Robertson was proud when she was able to afford to move her family into an apartment in Chester. But her nurse told her the gaping hole in the ceiling and mold growing in the corners were unsafe. She connected Robertson with the foundation’s Housing Opportunities Program for Equity, which helps people secure safe housing and navigate problems with landlords.

After her twins were born, the foundation’s Moving Beyond Depression program helped Robertson work through postpartum depression, which may have otherwise affected her ability to work and care for her children.

Two years later, Robertson said she still faces challenges. The recent government shutdown cut off the family’s food stamps, making for tough budgeting decisions earlier this month.

But now she knows where to turn for help, if the load ever becomes too heavy again.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional information on the foundation’s mission.

December 2, 2025
Pa.’s new budget has financial help for Delco’s Riddle and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospitals

Pennsylvania’s new budget has $5 million in supplemental payments for the two Delaware County Hospitals that have seen significant increases in patient volumes since Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital closed in the spring.

Main Line Health’s Riddle Hospital, near Media, is getting $3 million. The amount for Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic’s Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, in Darby, is $2 million, according to budget documents.

The $5 million will be doubled by a federal match, said Democratic State Sen. Tim Kearney, who represents part of Delaware County. The $5 million is from a fund used to help hospitals the serve a large number of patients with Medicaid and used to go to Crozer Health, Kearney said Friday.

Main Line said in a statement Thursday that the money will help it maintain services in the county.

Pa. lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro have approved a $50.1 billion state budget, officially ending monthslong impasse

“Since Crozer’s shutdown in April, Riddle’s Emergency Department has experienced an unprecedented surge — 46% more patients than the same period last year, an increase of nearly 4,000 overall,“ the nonprofit said.

Main Line, which also owns Lankenau Medical Center, Bryn Mawr Hospital, and Paoli Hospital, said it has seen 55,000 patients from the Crozer market — a 15% increase over the same time period last year. That figure includes 8,000 patients who went to a Main Line facility for the first time, the health system said.

Trinity Health did not respond to a request for comment.

Shuttered hospitals in limbo

While Riddle and Mercy Fitzgerald have scrambled to accommodate patients who used to rely on Crozer Health, efforts are underway to bring healthcare services back to at least Taylor Hospital in Ridley.

Local investors bought that facility in September for $1 million and are trying to entice one of the region’s nonprofit health systems to bring it back as a hospital.

A group from New Jersey called Chariot Allaire Partners LLC has agreed to pay $10 million for the former Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland but has not disclosed its plans. That facility served as a key safety provider for a low-income area of Delaware County.

A partnership of Restorative Health Foundation and Syan Investments won an auction for Springfield Hospital for $3 million, but it does not have support from township officials.

Delaware County legislators also obtained $1 million from the state to buy emergency department equipment if one of the closed hospitals, such as Taylor, reopens, Kearney said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional detail on the funding.

This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

November 14, 2025
The fates of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield Hospital remain uncertain three weeks after bankruptcy auction

Friday marks three weeks since the bankruptcy auction for Delaware County’s Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield Hospital, and it’s not clear how much progress has been made.

Closing the sales depends in part on local authorities agreeing to tax deals that set the assessments at the transaction prices of $10 million and $3 million, respectively, for a limited period of time.

Upland Borough, which is home to much of Crozer-Chester, is working on a property tax agreement that will be filed in court, borough council president Christine Peterson said Thursday. “We anticipate that Upland Borough Council will take action in favor of that stipulation once it is complete,” she said.

A representative for Chester Upland School District did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

If the school district also agrees to a tax resolution, a company called Chariot Allaire Partners LLC is clear to acquire the shuttered safety net hospital for $10 million.

Yoel Polack, who is principal of Chariot Equities and has been talking with local officials and prospective healthcare providers about plans for the hospital, said last Tuesday that he expected to issue what he called a “comprehensive memo” on the property this week.

Polack said in an email Thursday that there was still no update, but he is hoping to have something in the next few weeks.

The backup bidder for Crozer-Chester is the same group that won the auction for Springfield. The auction led to Chariot increasing its offer by $3 million.

Both facilities are owned by Prospect Medical Holdings, whose next bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Items to be considered include Springfield Township’s lawsuit aiming to force Prospect to improve safety on the hospital campus that it closed in 2022.

Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan granted a temporary injunction blocking Springfield from taking any action against California-based Prospect.

Another topic is a proposed $1.5 million settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Crozer employees who did not receive 60 days notice before losing their jobs in April and May when Prospect closed Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, which has since been sold. Federal law requires employers to provide two months notice of layoffs.

A stalemate in Springfield

Lawyers for Prospect identified Restorative Health Foundation and Syan Investments as the auction winner with a $3 million bid. But it appears a tax agreement that would assess the Springfield property at the purchase price is nowhere near completion.

“The township has no interest in agreeing to a tax deal without having a better understanding of the buyer’s intended use of the site and whether it aligns with the township’s comprehensive plan,” spokesperson Pete Peterson said in an email.

A representative for the winning bidders, Aminah Shabazz Perez, told the Delaware County Times recently that the buyer was in talks with two health systems about moving into the hospital, but one of them told township officials that was not true, Peterson said.

“In addition, the township already did its due diligence prior to the bankruptcy auction and engaged in discussions with representatives of different health systems,” he said. ”There was no interest in the property due to the cost of improvements the facility would need.“

Attempts by The Inquirer to reach Shabazz Perez have not been successful. Prospect did not respond to request for comment on the property tax situation.

The Springfield School Board would also have to agree to a tax settlement, but has not voted “on any proposed resolution of the outstanding tax appeals or the tax assessments relating to the Springfield Hospital and parking garage properties,” the school board’s solicitor Mark Sereni said Wednesday.

The face value of the Springfield School District’s latest claim in bankruptcy court is $1.43 million. Under an abandonment order signed on Oct. 14 by Jernigan, the district would receive a general unsecured claim, which is not likely to be worth much.

If Prospect abandons Springfield and Crozer-Chester, the municipalities would have to foreclose on the properties to collect any of the money Prospect owes them.

October 31, 2025
Bankrupt Prospect Medical received bids of $10 million for Crozer-Chester Medical Center and $3 million for Springfield Hospital

The winning bids at a bankruptcy auction were $10 million for Crozer-Chester Medical Center and $3 million for Springfield Hospital, owner Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. said in a court filing late Monday.

The California for-profit, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, identified the top bidders from Friday’s auction as Chariot Allaire Partners LLC for Crozer-Chester in Upland and Restorative Health Foundation and Syan Investments LLC for Springfield.

Prospect did not say in its filing when it expected the sales to be finalized. Both hospitals are currently closed.

Yoel Polack, who is in the group that wants to buy Crozer-Chester, initially declined to comment about plans for the property. “We are still working through final administrative details of the sale and will wait until next week to make any statements to the press,” he said in an email over the weekend.

Polack is identified on LinkedIn as principal at Chariot Equities, which describes itself on its website as a real estate investment and development company. Previously, Polack worked in healthcare real estate, such as medical office buildings, at Simone Development Cos. in New York.

Polack had an out-of-office reply on his email Tuesday, saying he would have no internet or phone access until Thursday.

The president of Upland Borough Council, Christine Peterson, did not respond to a request for comment Monday about the winning bidder.

No definitive information was available on Restorative Health Foundation and Syan Investments.

A phone number registered under the name Restorative Health Foundation in Philadelphia led to a home care agency called Restorative Home Care. The person who answered the phone Tuesday said she knew of no connection to a bid for Springfield Hospital. Another number for Restorative Health Foundation had a voicemail box that was full.

Restorative Health and Syan also participated in the Crozer-Chester auction, driving the winning bid up to $10 million from Chariot Allaire’s original $7 million offer. They were identified as the backup bidder for Crozer-Chester, in case Chariot Allaire doesn’t complete the purchase.

At Springfield, KQT Aikens Partners 2 LLC is the backup buyer. That involves the same group of local investors that bought Taylor Hospital for $1 million last month.

Prospect shuttered Crozer-Chester this spring, following the failure of government-led efforts to find a new, nonprofit owner. It had closed Springfield in 2022.

October 14, 2025
Prospect gets OK to ‘abandon’ Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield Hospital if sales don’t go through

Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. had a $7 million bid for Crozer-Chester Medical Center and a $3 million bid for Springfield Hospital ahead of an auction held in the afternoon, an attorney for the bankrupt company said at a hearing Friday.

Neither the winning bidders nor the top bids were identified publicly after the auction. Prospect did not respond to a request for information about the prospective buyers. Community members have been pushing for the restoration of hospital services to Crozer-Chester in particular.

At the same hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan approved Prospect’s plan to “abandon” the two shuttered Delaware County hospitals if the sales fail to close promptly because the properties have become a financial burden to the bankruptcy estate.

Prospect used a similar tactic last summer in the case of Crozer Health’s two other closed hospitals, Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill and Taylor Hospital in Ridley. Both of those hospitals have since been sold.

In a court filing Friday morning, Prospect said it had reached agreements with local tax authorities to set the assessments on Crozer-Chester and Springfield at the sale price for this year and next year.

The properties had elevated assessments because of Prospect’s financial maneuvers since the California for-profit acquired the county’s largest health system in 2016. The current assessment on Crozer-Chester is $114.6 million, according to public records. That figure is $10.9 million for Springfield

The filing also said school districts and others would accept general unsecured claims in the bankruptcy. Those claims are unlikely to have much value.

Much of Friday’s hearing on the abandonment motion was taken up with discussion of complications at Springfield. An attorney for Springfield Township said his client had not agreed to the tax deal outlined in the abandonment motion and was not part of the discussions.

That’s because Springfield Township has not filed a bankruptcy claim for back taxes, according to Prospect’s attorney, Maegan Quajada, of Sidley Austin. A hurdle in any sale is a deed restriction on the Springfield property that requires the operation of an emergency department that is open all the time.

However, Prospect closed the Springfield Hospital emergency department in early 2022, so it’s not clear how much weight the deed restriction has.

When Prospect announced late last month that it would hold an auction for Springfield and Crozer-Chester, it said any bids had to have no conditions on them, such as the resolution of tax matters or the Springfield deed restriction.

But then Prospect changed its mind and accepted conditional bids and rejected one that was unconditional, an attorney said in court Friday.

Quajada said the unidentified contingencies are being taken care of. “We already know we can meet them,” she said.

October 10, 2025
Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield Hospital would be ‘abandoned’ under Prospect Medical bankruptcy motion

Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. said in an emergency bankruptcy motion Friday evening that it wants to “abandon” Delaware County’s Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield Hospital unless local authorities agree to its property tax demands.

The California for-profit, which filed for bankruptcy in January, said it has potential buyers for the properties in Upland Borough and Springfield Township, which were once part of Crozer Health, the county’s largest health system and an important safety-net provider.

However, the bidders won’t close the deals unless tax assessments on the properties are reduced to the amount of the sale prices, Prospect said in its motion. The filing did not say what bids Prospect had received or how much Prospect owes in taxes. The assessments have been in dispute for years.

If U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan approves the motion at a hearing scheduled for Friday, Prospect would be allowed to jettison the properties from the case and stop the accumulation of property tax liabilities against the bankruptcy estate.

Then, if the tax authorities still do not agree to Prospect’s demands, the only way the municipalities and school districts could collect at least part of what they are owed would be to foreclose on the properties and put them up for a tax sale — a process that could take years.

Prospect had said previously it planned to hold an auction Oct. 10 for the Crozer-Chester and Springfield properties. It’s not clear if that plan has changed.

Prospect’s replay of earlier tactic that worked

In July, Prospect received court approval to abandon two other shuttered Crozer hospitals, Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park and Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill. Those two hospitals have since been sold.

Upper Darby School District acquired Delaware County Memorial for $600,000 on Aug. 14 and plans to use the property for the expansion of its neighboring high school. A group of local investors bought Taylor for $1 million Sept. 5 and hope to bring medical services back to the building.

In both of those cases, the townships and school districts accepted a general unsecured claim for past property taxes. The assessment issue was moot in Drexel Hill, but in the Taylor sale the taxing authorities agreed to a $1 million assessment for the first year or so.

Complications in Springfield

The Springfield property has a complicated ownership structure. Ventas, a large real estate investment trust, owns three of the buildings, two medical office buildings, and a sports club that is leased to the YMCA of Eastern Delaware County. The sale of those buildings happened in 2009, seven years before Prospect acquired Crozer.

The hospital and a parking garage were part of the 2019 sale of Crozer real estate to a different investment firm, Medical Properties Trust. Under that arrangement, Prospect leased Springfield and other hospitals back from Medical Properties Trust.

After Prospect’s financial condition deteriorated, MPT returned ownership of the Delaware County hospitals to Prospect in exchange for a mortgage. That happened in 2023. During the bankruptcy, MPT agreed to walk away from its interests in Crozer’s real estate.

Prospect failed for years to maintain the hospital and its parking garage, according to a lawsuit filed in mid-September by Springfield Township. The lawsuit cited the potential structural failure of stairwells in the garage and other problems and asked for an order forcing safety improvements.

Judge Jernigan blocked the township from pursuing that lawsuit last week.

Another sticking point in Springfield is a deed restriction requiring the operation of a 24-7 emergency department on the site.

Representatives for Springfield Township and Upland Borough did not respond to requests for comment Saturday.

October 4, 2025