Wallingford Developer Buys Borough Properties for $4.41 Mil

One of the Swarthmore parcels included in the real estate deal.

Swarthmore real estate has a new player. A big one.

Wallingford resident Jason Kilpatrick bought three downtown properties — containing 51 commercial and residential units — from Pastuszek Real Estate on January 28. The price tag: $4.41 million.

“Swarthmore properties for me — they have this energy to them,” says Kilpatrick, a Delaware County native and entrepreneur.

One parcel, opposite the Swarthmore train station, comprises 1-13 Park Ave. (Hobbs Coffee down to the Coed Hair Salon), 417 Dartmouth Ave. (Vicky’s Place), and several cottages on Myers Avenue. The second, 7 and 9 S. Chester Road, is home to the High Volume Hair Studio. The third is the Shirer Building, further down the block at 17 - 23 S. Chester Road, where you can find the Swarthmore Flower and Gift Shop, Poco Loco, and Avancé Accessories.

Backing Into Real Estate

Real estate wasn’t Kilpatrick’s original plan. He had hoped to make a splash in social media. This was in 2003, when that world was still wide open. MySpace had barely been launched, and Friendster was the big player. 

“Our goal was to connect all the universities in the country,” Kilpatrick recalls. “Message boards, photo galleries, a textbook exchange, ride sharing.” Facebook, also in the development stage, was a competitor, and Kilpatrick and Mark Zuckerberg exchanged a few emails. But it wasn’t yet clear that Facebook would come to dominate the market.

In those early years, Kilpatrick was a student at Drexel University, only 12 credits shy of graduation when he dropped out to launch the startup with his best friend from childhood, Michael Hagan. He had procured funding and was looking to set up shop. Philadelphia was pricey, so Kilpatrick cast his eye on Chester, not far from his childhood home in Secane.

Jason Kilpatrick, pictured here with his family, has purchased three major properties in Swarthmore’s business district. Photo: Jaime Martin

Kilpatrick bought a three-bedroom house at 1725 Providence Road, not far from Widener University. It had been on the market for the better part of a year, but he could afford it, and it looked like a good investment. He, his business partner, and their first employee moved in and worked feverishly on their new business.

After half a year, Kilpatrick grew restless. He spread the word among the Widener population that he was looking to rent out the house. Soon, a group of students moved in, paying a rent that more than covered his mortgage. He suspected he had tapped into a demand. So, when he saw moving trucks at the house across the street, he went over, introduced himself, and asked if the owners would be interested in selling the property. “I bought that house for about $50,000,” Kilpatrick recalls. Before long, he owned seven or eight properties in the area. 

At first, real estate was a hedge for his internet company. But, in 2008, two things happened: Facebook exploded the social media world, and the financial crisis hit. 

“Homes in Chester went from $80,000 to $50,000” in value, he recalls. “It was sad.” But it was also an opportunity. Kilpatrick purchased more properties. Soon, he was devoting himself to real estate full time. Sometimes he might pay more than market value for a property, but it didn’t worry him. 

“I was young,” he says. “Time was on my side.” 

Before long, he had over 100 units in his portfolio, spread across Chester, Springfield, and Media.

Recovery Houses

By 2014, Kilpatrick was married and had moved to Wallingford with his wife Sarah. But he was still involved in Chester. He was co-chairing a fundraising event for the Boys and Girls Club of Chester, where he serves as a board member, when he walked into a local methadone treatment center and asked the director, Brian Corson, if he wanted to buy a table for the gala. 

Corson did. But he also wanted something else. He proposed that Kilpatrick partner with him in a new business venture: opening a recovery house for people suffering from addiction.

“I told him I was fully occupied with student housing,’” Kilpatrick recalls. 

Kilpatrick was drawn to Corson’s vision. People close to him had suffered from addiction. But he was also wary. Besides, all his properties were occupied.

Then, a “really special” house became available, Kilpatrick says: a pre-Civil War building at 2412 Providence Road in Chester that Kilpatrick had renovated to live in with Sarah. A year later, when the couple moved to Wallingford, he rented it to a group of students. “The students totally trashed it,” Kilpatrick recalls. “I was personally hurt, since I was so connected to this house.” 

The vacant house presented an opportunity. Kilpatrick thought of Corson and picked up the phone. Ten minutes later, the two men shook hands on their new partnership. “I pretty much tossed him the keys,” Kilpatrick says. “I said, ‘I’ll pay to keep the lights and utilities on. Let’s see what you can do.’”

Corson, a social worker and Widener University adjunct professor, created an addiction recovery program. When Kilpatrick visited, he discovered that he had connections with several of the residents. One was from his church. Another was a friend of his cousin. 

He was learning how big the opioid epidemic was and the role he could play in fighting it. Kilpatrick and Corson formed a company, MVP Recovery. They began opening more houses. Now, six years later, Kilpatrick says he’s proud that MVP is the largest sober-living and treatment center in Delaware County, with over two hundred graduates.

“When you run a business saving people’s lives,” Kilpatrick reflects, “you wake up with a whole different attitude — and even more motivation.”

Lunch in Swarthmore

About a decade ago, when he was working on a house in Chester, Kilpatrick often found himself heading up the road to Swarthmore at lunchtime for a bite to eat, frequently at Occasionally Yours. He liked the ambience.

One day in 2009, he walked into the Pastuszek Real Estate office at 5 Park Ave. The Pastuszeks weren’t there, so he told office manager Katie Udovich, “I know you guys might not be selling anything now, but I’d be really interested in buying some of your properties,” Kilpatrick recalls. “She said, ‘The Pastuszeks never sell anything.’”

Kilpatrick wasn’t discouraged. He felt he had established a connection. He remembers thinking, “Now she knows who I am.”

A few months later, a contractor requested that Kilpatrick directly pay a landlord for back rent the contractor owed on a garage. When Kilpatrick learned the landlord was the Pastuszek company, he agreed to deliver the money.

After that, Kilpatrick headed up to Swarthmore to talk with Katie whenever he could find a reason. He made sure she knew he was still interested in the properties.

In 2015, Kilpatrick sent a letter to Lydia Pastuszek. Together with her siblings Bill and Alex, Lydia had inherited the business founded by their father, William Pastuszek Sr., in 1947. Lydia wrote Kilpatrick back, telling him the family wasn’t ready to sell. But, after that, Kilpatrick and Lydia exchanged letters once or twice a year, until her sudden death last November.

In 2017, the Pastuszek matriarch Theodozia died. Her children began to consider selling some of the Swarthmore properties. It took some time, but in summer 2020 the deal for 51 units in downtown Swarthmore came together.

Kilpatrick says he feels a powerful connection with the Pastuszek family and admires their business. “William Pastuszek was well respected and liked,” he says. “I’ve heard so many wonderful stories.” Both Kilpatrick and Pastuszek started their businesses in Chester. And, of course, “We were both passionate about real estate.”

The Deal

Despite Kilpatrick’s connections, landing the deal for the three big properties wasn’t easy. For one thing, there was a lot of money to raise. Kilpatrick turned to an old friend, also in real estate, to partner on the deal.

“I’ve always been intrigued by downtown Swarthmore,” Kilpatrick reports. He likes its restaurants, its live music, and the amphitheater in Central Park. He likes the way you run into people you know walking down the street. In a world that’s growing more virtual, Kilpatrick believes Swarthmore can be a model of small-town connection. “I think face-to-face connection is what makes us happy as humans,” he says.

Locals, including Mayor Spiegel, have been welcoming. State senator and former Swarthmore mayor Tim Kearney helped connect Kilpatrick to Beth Murray of the Centennial Foundation and Sharon Mester of Swarthmore Town Center.

“Buying a property like this is a once-in-a-hundred-years type of thing,” Kilpatrick says.

The first order of business will be to fill the vacancies in both storefronts and apartments, Kilpatrick says. One idea is to bring in pop-up Etsy shops. “I’ve started reaching out to the biggest Etsy owners in Swarthmore and Media,” he reports. “I’m hoping word gets out there’s space available. I don’t want to get GEICO insurance in there.”

And down the road?

“I’d like to see more outdoor music, more restaurants in town,” Kilpatrick says. “Continue in the direction that the town is going, but amplified: maybe make it a little bit more hip. To attract the millennials and young professionals to come live here.”

He envisions more artwork around town, more activities for children, maybe a co-working space, although he worries that the housing supply limits the possibilities. “I think there is a good amount of affordable housing in Swarthmore,” he says. “There need to be more high-end” residences.

The father of two young sons, Kilpatrick is interested in nurturing a new generation of entrepreneurs. Growing up, he always had a business: shoveling snow and washing windows, selling handmade crafts door to door. “I’d like to work with kids on their business ideas,” he says. “Give kids the resources, the motivation.”

Of his new properties, Kilpatrick says, “I see myself as a custodian. Or a caretaker. What excites me is that now I have a say — an influence on — how great Swarthmore can be.”