111 Old York Road in Jenkintown, vacated for years, is expected to become the new home of a Jamaican restaurant.

Borough manager George Locke said that the applicant, Leston Donaldson of Philadelphia, has been going through the application/permit process, though no timeline is available yet. 

“We haven’t issued any permits, but I know they’re working in there and making some adjustments. They’ve submitted plans and the project is progressing slowly,” Locke said.

The 4,508 sf storefront building is the former home of Sunshine Oriental Health Spa, a controversial business which saw three separate raids by Pennsylvania State Police in 2005, 2008 and 2011. The raids resulted in “convictions on prostitution and disorderly conduct charges,” according to CBS’ past coverage.

We will be in touch with more details. Stay tuned.

In related news, free parking in the borough has been shifted from Wednesdays to Tuesdays going forward to accommodate the Jenkintown Night Market’s visitors.

“They chief thought it would help the market and he thought it was detrimental to have his people out there with everyone trying to come in,” Locke said. “We had it free on Wednesday, and he got permission to move it to Tuesday. It just made more sense.”

Locke said the change is temporary change until the end of this year’s market.

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Photo: Loopnet.com