it's what you want to know
Remember those ever-evolving plans for Devon Yard? How they once included a hotel, apartment building and parking garage near the old Waterloo site? And how, after a series of skirmishes, feisty neighbors thwarted all three.
Well, never say never.
The same developer – Eli Kahn, in partnership with Wade McDevitt – is back with new versions of each, all sited within spitting distance of Devon Yard and the Devon Horse Show.
Hearts were heavy but heads were held high across the Main Line this week.
Hate would have no home here.
From Beth Chaim in Malvern to Beth David in Gladwyne, from the Chabad Center in Devon to Chabad Main Line in Merion, from Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy to the Perelman Jewish Day School, thousands gathered – somber and shattered, yes, but resolute in their response to the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
There would be no cowering in corners.
With growing unease, Jewish friends had watched the rising tide of hate on their home turf: the toppled tombstones, the scribbled swastikas, the bomb threats. But a massacre? In their own state? In a neighborhood not so different from Narberth? If hate could kill in Squirrel Hill, it could kill anywhere, right?
The Main Line seems smitten with its new baby, the upscale lifestyle center Devon Yard.
And why not?
She’s six acres of delightful: verdant and lush, our new bundle of joy.
And a surprisingly small bundle she turns out to be.
After that that four-year township tug-of-war, Devon’s new “town center” consists of two stores (albeit grand ones), two restaurants and an event space. Period.
Still, every detail disarms: the breathtaking courtyard, the vintage flourishes, the unexpected touches of whimsy.
Here’s what you need to know before you go:
Don’t bother searching for Cal Stone McMillan in Conestoga’s 2103 yearbook. The only McMillan listed is brainy trumpeter Caroline, and well, she’s long gone.
Because Caroline, in trans parlance, is Cal’s “dead name.”
In print and in person, Caroline has been largely erased – birth certificate, passport and driver’s license all say “Calvin” now. Calling Cal “Caroline” would be “deadnaming,” disrespectful because it signals non-acceptance.
Along with the masculine name, there’s a manly physique, a strong handshake, a deeper voice, a beard.
What a difference a decade makes.
Hang out with the Tankels’ in their Malvern living room and you’d never know this observant Quaker family was nearly destroyed by drugs.
Teasing and cracking jokes, they clearly love being together. Like the “normal” Main Line family they weren’t – for six harrowing years.
Truly, if walls could talk, the Tankels’ home would scream: of stolen money and pilfered pills, of school expulsions and shouting matches, of multiple car crashes and surprise drug tests, of Visine and baggies, of trust faithfully extended and repeatedly betrayed. All of it fallout from Eric Tankel’s addiction to pot, to pain pills, and ultimately, to heroin.
Six of his close friends died from their addictions.
But Eric, thankfully, is very much with us.
Dim the lights and pass the popcorn: The Main Line might get its first luxury movie house.
The owner of the Swedesford Plaza Shopping Center in Tredyffrin is in serious talks with an upscale theater company to turn the dowdy old Pathmark into a state-of-the-art cinema experience.
Hey, Whole Foods: Can you build us a new Devon store, too?
We just had a sneak peek tour and tasting at the about-to-open Wynnewood market and, frankly, we were blown away.
The place is blockbuster.
We knew it would be three times bigger than the cramped Whole Foods it’s replacing around the corner.
But we had no idea how much better it would be.
Developer Eli Kahn’s 60-foot high hopes have been officially and forever dashed.
After huddling with disgruntled Devon neighbors, he’s just unveiled a new plan that lops off the top floor of his proposed Devon Yard apartments and cuts the number of units from 135 to 100.
Was it the blue yard signs that sprouted like spring weeds along adjoining streets after that very vocal public meeting?
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