Financial Risk for Willows Proposal May Be Eliminated

The $4 million financial risk for Radnor Township in its planned partnership with Conroy Catering to renovate and run the Willows Mansion will likely be eliminated, Radnor Patch has learned this week.

Radnor manager Bob Zienkowski confirmed that the township has made “significant progress with Conroy, under the direction and guidelines of the Board of Commissioners, and we are working on a lot of the details now of how it will all work and come together.”

Earlier this month the board authorized a study on the proposed 29-year lease and financing for the mansion.

The proposal by Conroy, which would include infrastructure and code improvements, an addition, an elevator, replacement of the mansion’s solarium, and renovation of the bedrooms, did need Radnor to guarantee bonds to finance the $4 million renovation, said commissioner John Nagle.

Although there was a public plea by Jeffrey Miller, another caterer who was being considered for the Willows Mansion, for the board to reconsider its choice, it voted 4 to 3 at a meeting on July 8 to pursue the Conroy proposal.

Not everyone in the public and on the board agreed with the majority, especially on the topic of financing. The township will retain ownership of the Willows Mansion, and the public will have rights to use the mansion and property.

“Conroy told me that they listened intently at the meeting, in which their entire team was in attendance, and went back and started to address the concerns of the Board of Commissioners,” Zienkowski said.

Nagle told Radnor Patch that although not everything Conroy is proposing matches the township’s Request for Proposals, the main goals would be met: the preserve the mansion, keep public accessibility and relieve Radnor Township of its operating cost.