Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
Gratz College is moving, but not very far.
The 130-year-old college is departing its Mandell Education Campus in Melrose Park in order to move just up the road to Jenkintown, where it will lease a 3,700-square-foot space that will house staff and serve as a center for community programming in the Old York Road Corridor.
“We’re excited to right size our operations. We will [have our headquarters] in Bala Cynwyd, but it is essential that we retain a strong presence in the northern suburbs,” Gratz President Zev Eleff said.
Gratz College will use this location for in-person staff as well as some noncredit classes as the Bala Cynwyd campus is still being renovated.
The move will come in July 2025. The new home of Gratz in the Old York Road Corridor will be located at 315 York Road in Jenkintown.
Eleff said that the OId York Road Corridor brings something special to the Gratz community. For one, staff members are happy working in the area. It is close to other Jewish institutions and the homes of many members of the Gratz family. Those neighborhoods are also filled with Jewish people who rely on Gratz for community programming and services.
“We have some excellent agency partners in the northern suburbs,” Eleff said. “It’s important to retain our mission and our relationships with adult learners, agencies and donors as well as constituents of all kinds.”
For now, the move will be limited to the new space for administrative work and programming. However, Gratz has said that it wants to create a space for Jewish nonprofits to convene at this campus in the long-term.
It’s not just the administration that is excited, Eleff said.
“I think the staff are excited. We have a really great team at Gratz College and the Bala Cynwyd campus is wonderful, but we need additional space besides that,” he said. “It is a great opportunity and it makes sense. It triages our costs and our operations and makes them more manageable, and everything looks to be in order.”
One of the most exciting parts about this move is that it will grant Gratz access to the Uptown Event Venue in Jenkintown, which is managed by the Lindy Property Management Company. The venue will be used for Gratz’s various educational and cultural programs.
Alan and Carolyn Lindy of Lindy Property Management Company own the development and they are excited about the move.
“Carolyn and I are thrilled that Gratz College will be at The Piazza on the Square, our corporate office for Lindy Communities,” Alan Lindy said. “Gratz College will enhance the vitality of Jenkintown, and especially the center of Jenkintown. As long-term supporters of Gratz College, we are especially gratified that Gratz is joining The Piazza.”
Eleff said that it is a “joy” to work with the Lindy family on this project.
“This is an exciting time for Gratz College,” said David Brawer, chair of Gratz’s board of governors. “The moving of our campus to Bala Cynwyd and the leasing of our new site in Jenkintown will provide the college with opportunities to expand our programs and provide much needed meeting spaces for both the Main Line and Old York Road communities.”
This comes as the school constructs its Bala Cynwyd campus, which will come in at 14,500 square feet. It will include a cafe, new learning spaces, coworking areas, a teen lounge and a theater with Dimensions in Testimony Holocaust survivor interactive technology. The project will cost $6 million, of which the college has raised $4.5 million so far.
Eleff said that the building might be new for the Gratz community, but the mission is the same.
“The community on the Old York Road Corridor, they’ve come to rely on Gratz College, and we’ve been a staple there and will continue to be,” he said.