SJU campus / nothing new will ever be built in 3rd district ever again
This post is about the old USciences campus that became part of St. Joe’s in 2022 then got sold last year (2025). Despite living in West Philly and passing by the campus all the time on my way to the Woodlands, I don’t really know that much about the institutions that operated there. My one fun fact is that I guess Hamilton Morris briefly worked in a lab there and we would see him around at the Clark Park farmer’s market. My husband really liked that show “Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia” and because of that I now know who Hamilton Morris is. This is not relevant to the RTKL blog!
I read some stories in the newspaper about this property. In 2021, U Sciences merged with St. Joseph’s. Then in 2025, St. Joe’s sold the property. And then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier went off the rails and proposed legislation that would put restrictions on land sales based on the seller/buyer, then realized that wouldn’t work and introduced slightly less onerous legislation that would add more red tape for the sale of any property that used to be used for educational purposes. So I wanted to see what’s up.
The RTKL request I submitted was for: A copy of all correspondence between Councilmember Jamie Gauthier's office and St. Joseph's University relating to the USciences campus in West Philadelphia sent or received from 6/1/21 to present. A copy of all correspondence between CM Gauthier's office and Michael Karp and/or Belmont Neighborhood Educational Alliance sent or received from 8/1/25 to present.
In 2022, a year after USciences merged with St. Joseph’s and that whole campus became part of St. Joe’s, they decided that undergrads didn’t actually belong on a satellite campus away from everyone else and announced they’d move them all back to the main campus:
Then in 2025, St. Joe’s started updating Councilmember Gauthier’s office on bids they were receiving for the sale of the campus.
A few days later, Councilmember Gauthier wrote a strongly worded letter! Demanding information on all bidders within three business days!
Then there’s a gap in the correspondence. I’m assuming communications moved to calls/in person meetings for a bit.
In July, SJU provided an update to CM Gauthier’s office in response to their questions. They note that CM Gauthier and her team all signed NDAs (!!!! is that allowed?) to discuss potential sales. Apparently the Councilmember really wanted St. Joe’s to tell her all of the bid offers and they refused (they described it as a sticking point for her). But they agreed to share the names of bidders and intended uses.
And CM Gauthier’s office kept pushing back on them not sharing pricing info:
An update about another possible bidder!
I get that this is a big property and a big change for the neighborhood, but it strikes me as odd that an elected representative’s office is so involved in the sale process here. Like, I get that CM Gauthier is an advocate for affordable housing (something I truly admire her for!) but just because you hold an office doesn’t mean you get to be dictator of all land use in your district.
Like seriously what does he mean “we need to hear from you proactively instead of spending time prodding you for details if this is going to work” - it’s good for SJU to keep electeds in the loop but that’s not how property rights work, they can sell property that they own. My 1L property class was a long time ago (“property is a bundle of rights” or something) but I’m pretty sure that’s one of the basics.
Here’s SJU telling CM Gauthier’s assistant basically that he’s sharing updates but focusing on getting a deal done:
Aww he is a true believer and dedicated community advocate:
Next day, SJU tells CM Gauthier’s office: “we’re probably gonna sell to this Karp guy.”
The community is shocked!
I think the problem is that CM Gauthier has an admirable goal (be a voice for the community and make housing affordable) but she’s using the wrong tools and not accomplishing those goals. If all you do is add red tape and annoying little hurdles, that adds up and nobody is going to want to make a meaningful investment in this part of the city because it ends up being impossible to make it work. Inclusionary zoning is nice in theory but in reality people will just build new housing where they don’t have the city telling them how to price it.
The full document production here: