The Upper Darby School District closed a deal Friday with Prospect Medical Holdings to purchase the former Delaware County Memorial Hospital and two other structures on the Drexel Hill property for $600,000, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The Crozer Health hospital has been closed since November 2022. Prospect Medical, owner of Crozer Health, filed for bankruptcy in January.

The school district plans to tear down the main hospital building, an adjacent medical office building and a parking garage on the 7.73-acre lot at Lansdowne and Keystone avenues in Drexel Hill, about a quarter-mile from Upper Darby High School.

The property will then be repurposed for future educational needs.

As part of the deal, millions of dollars in property tax owed by Prospect Medical for the hospital site will be converted into unsecured debt.

Delaware County Memorial owes $19.74 million in property taxes.

In a related story, a retired Crozer Health nurse expressed her anger at Prospect Medical in a letter she sent to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan, who is overseeing the Prospect Medical bankruptcy.

Mary Ellen DeAngelo was a 44-year nurse for Crozer before retiring in 2018, writes Harold Brubaker for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

She wrote the letter so the judge would see what was lost when Crozer Health closed.

The 72-year-old received a postcard about Prospect’s bankruptcy and noticed it contained the address for Judge Jernigan.

 “You know what, I’m just going to tell her what they did, what they destroyed, the beautiful place they destroyed,” she said..

The four-page handwritten letter was posted last week on the bankruptcy docket for Prospect Medical Holdings.

“There are no words to describe how upset I am about this situation. I appeal to you to hold these people accountable in any way you can. How this happens in our country makes me ashamed. Greed is going to kill us all,” she wrote to the judge in Dallas.

Read more about the Upper Darby School District acquisition of the Delaware County Memorial Hospital property in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Read more about Mary Ellen DeAngelo’s letter to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Editor’s Note: This post was initially published on DELCO.Today in August 2025.