Development will rise from ashes

By JAMES MCGINNIS
Bucks County Courier Times

Bensalem - With a boom and a thud, the dirty yellow smokestack at the former Eastern State School and Hospital came crumbling to the ground Wednesday as a new retail/office park continued to take shape in Bensalem.

The last piece of the decaying 42-year-old hospital was destroyed amid fanfare. The Bensalem High School Marching Band strutted through the parking lot. Township officials and developers dined on coffee and cannolis.

"From the ashes of this smokestack will rise the future of redevelopment," said Len Poncia, project manager for the developer, O'Neill Properties.

The King of Prussia-based developer has already transformed much of the 101-acre hospital site into a bustling retail/office center, anchored by a Loews, a four-story office building, a bank and restaurants. More than 1,200 people already work at the Horizon development, according to the company.

Horizon crews stopped construction of a new Wal-Mart, Wingate Inn Suites Hotel and a Cracker Barrel restaurant to watch the smokestack implode. The center is on Rockhill Drive and Old Lincoln Highway near the Neshaminy Mall.

O'Neill Properties marked Wednesday's implosion by presenting a ceremonial $1 million check to the township for open space preservation. The developer also promised to give 1/4-acre of Horizon center land to the township. The land will be used as a station for the expanding Bensalem Rescue Squad, officials said.

Both those donations were originally announced in 2003, as O'Neill and Bensalem officials hammered out the Horizon project.

The former Eastern State School and Hospital was built in 1963 and closed in 1997. The smokestack, some 300 feet tall, could be the site of future construction, Poncia said.

James McGinnis can be reached at 215-949-3248 or jmcginnis@phillyBurbs.com

September 15, 2005 4:55 AM