Sale of Montco human services center is delayed

NORRISTOWN The sale of the Montgomery County Human Services Center in Norristown will take a couple of weeks longer than anticipated, county officials said Monday.

Commissioners Chairman Josh Shapiro said the buyer was exercising its right to a full 30-day review, but the extension will not affect the costs or terms of the deal.

The commissioners voted in July to sell the two-building complex, at 1430 and 1500 DeKalb St., to SHDC DeKalb Investors L.P. for $17.5 million.

The county was only using about one-third of the space in the complex, and will remain there under a lease with SHDC.

Operations will not be interrupted for the departments of Health and Human Services, Aging and Adult Services, Children and Youth, and other departments that reside there, county officials have said.

The county had purchased the buildings in 1994 for $7 million and spent an additional $16 million on retrofits - a deal that Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. called a "white elephant."

Officials had hoped to close the deal by the end of the year, but Shapiro said it is now expected around the second week of January. - Jessica Parks