An aerial view of Valley Forge Military Academy & Valley Forge Military College which has sold off more than half of its acreage in recent years. Eastern College inked a deal for 33 acres in the Tredyffrin section of campus in the fall. Radnor officials now plan to buy 14 acres within its township borders.
Yowza! Radnor Township just rang in the new year with a bang.
At last night’s meeting – their first of 2026, commissioners voted unanimously to take a key step toward seizing by eminent domain roughly 14 acres at Valley Forge Military Academy.
Why? To create a township park and build a recreation center to supplement – and perhaps, replace – Sulpizio Gym in South Wayne.
But the township would much rather shake hands than grab, according to Commissioner Jack Larkin whose ward includes the VFMA campus. It prefers to negotiate an amicable purchase and bypass the long, tortuous path of eminent domain,
This wouldn’t be a hostile takeover as some eminent domain purchases are, he says. Cash-poor Valley Forge Military wants to sell. In fact, it’s had talks with a developer who hoped to build single-family homes at the site, Larkin says. VFMA knows the township wants the property but went “radio silent” some time ago.
Could the threat of eminent domain bring VFMA back to the bargaining table? There is a precedent. Radnor engaged in a similar gambit in late 2024 when it threatened to use eminent domain to take Wayne Presbyterian Church’s parking spaces. In that instance, friendly fire sparked a friendly resolution.
The VFMA deal – whether negotiated or seized – will be a boon for the township, Larkin says.
It blocks the development of homes on yet another chunk of VFMA land. So no extra cars clogging North Wayne’s narrow roads and no added strain on Radnor’s taxpayer-funded resources.
Preserving the area as mostly open space with recreational trails and perhaps a playground will also pay health and environmental dividends. More fresh air, exercise. socialization and pollinating plants.
The sale also saves the township from sinking a lot more money into Sulpizio Gym, which it leases from Radnor Township School District.
With just two basketball courts and sub-optimal parking, the Sulpizio facility doesn’t meet the township’s indoor recreation needs, according to Larkin.
“If we were to do all the things we want to do to Sulpizio, it would certainly be expensive … We’d be pouring a lot of money into a property the township doesn’t own and there’s no guarantee the township would continue to have access to it 20 or 30 years from now.”
Commissioner Jack Larkin explains the eminent domain agenda item at Monday night’s meeting. Commissioners empowered Radnor’s solicitor to draft an ordinance authorizing the township to seize Valley Forge Military Academy land by eminent domain.
A while back, the township had embarked on a “quest to find real property” for a bigger and better rec center, Larkin says. “The one that floated to the top was an unused portion of Valley Forge Military Academy.”
The planned deal does not affect Eastern University’s deal to purchase 33 VFMA acres across the township line in Tredyffrin.
Nor would it affect the proposed public-service charter school that would inhabit academic buildings if it gets a green light from the school district.
It could, however, impact a plan initially floated by the charter school’s founders to convert campus apartments to low-cost housing for the area’s first responders. That proposal, Larkin says, is inconsistent with the tract’s “institutional” use zoning. (The housing plan, along with a possible public rec center has since disappeared from the Valley Forge Public Service Academy website.)
Radnor’s zoning map shows the “Institutional” use for VFMA, Eastern U and the former Cabrini U. in yellow.
The targeted 14 acres are adjacent to the VFMA tract that Rockwell Development Group bought for Oak Hill at St. David’s, a luxury lifecare facility on Eagle Road that will overlook St. David’s Golf Club.
Rockwell Development Group’s Greg Lingo points out VFMA land he bought for a senior living facility next to St. David’s Golf Club. Oak Hill at St. David’s is slated to open in two years. Lingo tells us 34 deposits have been received to date. ‘It’s already more popular than we even thought it would be,” Lingo tells SAVVY.
Rockwell paid $500,000/acre for 23+ acres and Larkin believes that should be “the ceiling” for the township’s outlay. If Radnor takes the land by eminent domain, the price, under PA law, would be “estimated just compensation” as set by a “board of reviewers.”
The township would pay for the purchase out of its general reserves or, if the price ends up too high, by a bond issue, Larkin tells us.
If VFMA doesn’t come to the bargaining table in the next few weeks, Monday night’s vote means an ordinance authorizing eminent domain gets a first reading at the commissioners’ January 24 meeting and a second reading and vote at their next meeting. Only then would the process proceed in earnest with a “declaration of taking.”
If that happens and “everyone drags their feet,” Radnor residents may not enjoy their new courts and parkland for 10 years, according to Larkin.
“We would prefer to have a completed rec center and park available to the township promptly. But we don’t have the appetite to wait forever.”
After consulting with fellow commissioners, Larkin believes Radnor Township hasn’t used eminent domain to acquire land in the last 50 years, maybe longer.
“My hope is that we can reach a negotiated outcome here that’s going to be best for everybody. So, hopefully, we won’t have eminent domain in the near future either.”
Caroline, what would be do without you? You are our local news outlet. Thanks for this article.
You’re welcome, of course. There’s always something interesting happening around here, right?
The Valley Forge Board of Trustees are so inept that keeping this open space is perfect. There have been to many back room deals that the Pennsylvania Attorney General would need non retiring Agents to work the review.
John English the Chairman at Valley Forge Military Academy and College never makes public appearances as he is afraid of accountability. He has made his fortune of the backs of taxpayers.
Keep in mind they already spent the initial money received by Rockwell.