{"id":1091,"date":"2026-06-16T15:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:42:16","slug":"13-acre-villanova-estate-to-be-preserved-in-13m-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=1091","title":{"rendered":"13-acre Villanova estate to be preserved in $13M deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div><audio><\/audio><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 13-acre Oakwell estate, which Lower Merion School District once hoped to turn into school athletic fields, has been preserved after being purchased by two nonprofits.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=1089\">Main Line Health\u2019s Paoli Hospital will get a new, 108-bed patient tower in a major expansion<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The $13 million deal was authorized by the district in 2024 to sell the lush estate in Villanova that contains 700 trees, many of them old growth. The sale closed Friday. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Under the arrangement, the conservation nonprofit Natural Lands purchased 10 acres of land for roughly $10 million, and the nonprofit Wyncote Foundation purchased three-acres that contain the Oakwell mansion for about $3 million.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>John Bennett, a retired medical doctor who owned the estate before the district, said he was relieved. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cBeneath those magnificent oak trees, some of which have stood for more than 200 years, rest my son\u2019s ashes,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cThose trees were already old when America was young. They have survived wars, economic depressions, hurricanes, and generations of families who walked beneath their branches.\u201c<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Bennett, who has moved from the area, said he feels, \u201can overwhelming sense of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The district\u2019s agreement to sell Oakwell to the nonprofits came after furious pushback by Bennett, neighbors and even some students who banded together in protest. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Besides trees, Oakwell contains a 20,000-square-foot brick Tudor Revival mansion replete with heavy wooden doors, a wainscoted library, and Mercer floor tile. The Wyncote Foundation plans to restore and preserve the mansion.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The property also contains a pool house, a teahouse once watched over by a terra-cotta warrior, stone fencing, and a brick-walled garden complex all dating back at least 120 years. That will all be owned by Natural Lands.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Frank Ranelli, superintendent of the Lower Merion School District, said in a statement on the sale, that it \u201cwill enhance the quality of life for members of the Lower Merion community.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=1087\">The Lower Merion school board repealed its technology policy over outcry from parents who don\u2019t want kids on laptops<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt feels really like a dream come true,\u201d said Oliver Bass, president and CEO of Natural Lands. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Becoming part of Stoneleigh<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Bass noted it has taken years of planning to acquire the tract after the Lower Merion School District purchased Oakwell in 2018 from Bennett. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The district purchased Oakwell under condemnation with the goal of transforming it into a large athletic complex for the then-new Black Rock Middle School. However, Bennett had originally wanted to sell it to Villanova University.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The 10 acres that Natural Lands just purchased will become part of the organization\u2019s neighboring 42-acre Stoneleigh public garden. Oakwell was once part of Stoneleigh but was subdivided in the late 1920s and early 1930s.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Now, the properties will be reunited, Bass said.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Bass said that Natural Lands never envisioned that they entire tract would be saved when discussions first started with the school district years ago. The deal was helped by money from the Wyncote Foundation, Bass noted, and the William Penn Foundation provided leadership support.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Natural Lands has a master plan for the new parcel, but Bass said it could take years to complete work and integrate it fully with Stoneleigh. He said Natural Lands is working with an architect and landscape architect and will likely have to raise additional money. When finished, the Oakwell tract will be open to the public.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt will become one wholistic experience with Stoneleigh,\u201d Bass said, \u201cjust larger and grander.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that we\u2019ll be able to unite two properties separated by nearly a century is pretty remarkable,\u201d Bass said. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=1086\">Roundup of third-quarter financial results for Philly-area nonprofit health systems<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lower Merion School District once planned to turn the land, known as Oakwell, into ballfields. Now, much of it will become part of Stoneleigh garden. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>13-acre Villanova estate to be preserved in $13M deal - Corporate Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=1091\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"13-acre Villanova estate to be preserved in $13M deal - Corporate Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lower Merion School District once planned to turn the land, known as Oakwell, into ballfields. 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