Dignitaries mix and mingle for the Partnership TMA of Montgomery County’s annual meeting inside the newly renovated banquet room at the North Wales Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Renovations to borough-owned church and offices started in 2023
As the guests started to arrive, landlord and tenant greeted each new arrival, showing off the upstairs and downstairs while troubleshooting any minor problems.
But this wasn’t a housewarming party, it was two major milestones in one: the annual meeting of the Partnership TMA of Montgomery County, and the unofficial soft opening of the long-discussed North Wales Arts and Cultural Center.
“It’s working out just fine: we came in here at the end of October last year, so we’ve seen it under construction, we’ve been living it. It’s been really cool,” said Jacqui Baxter-Rollins, PTMA’s executive director.
Awards presented
Highlights of Thursday morning’s annual meeting featured several award presentations, including to Upper Gwynedd Township for their “Visionary Partner” award for demonstrating forward thinking and implementing transit-related projects, such as recent trail connections and extensions and the planned move and recent naming of a pedestrian bridge on Sumneytown Pike to a local legend.
Other recipients included Bike and Sol, who received the 2025 Community Partner award for leveraging resources to meet community needs and improve access to transportation; and the Montgomery County Office of Public Health: Community Traffic Safety Program which received the Education Partner award for collaborating on educational initiatives to expand knowledge of transportation issues.
The host also secured an honor: “North Wales Borough received a special Outstanding Partner award for their successful adaptive reuse project, the North Wales Arts and Cultural Center, and the support they’ve provided to us as their new tenant,” Baxter-Rollins said.
Partnership TMA board President Mark Bickerton, left, and PTMA executive Director Jacqui Baxter-Rollins, right, present Upper Gwynedd Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell with the PTMA’s “Visionary Partner” award. (Photo courtesy of Partnership TMA)New name reflects wider focus
The organization also announced a new name, reflecting a wider focus.
“Going forward we will be the Partnership for Transportation, no longer the Partnership TMA of Montgomery County,” Baxter-Rollins said.
A sign for the Partnership TMA of Montgomery County stands outside the parking lot of the renovated North Wales Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025.As visitors arrived, volunteers opened the doors to the Main Street complex: a former church whose cornerstone reads 1866, three years older than the borough itself, and the adjacent office building that was built in the 1970s. PTMA staff handed out lanyards and checked guests in from a basement room that once hosted art classes, and has since been revamped into a state-of-the-art workspace and conference room, while PTMA and borough staff gave tours above.
“The room was built and designed by people who engineered the sound — because it was prior to microphones and all the technology we have today, it actually has built-in acoustics. Watch,” said borough Manager Christine Hart, opening the door to a refurbished church sanctuary space filled with pews, new LED lighting, and stained glass windows, then walking from the entrance to a podium on the stage: “I’m over here, and there’s no microphone, and you can still hear me.”
North Wales Borough Manager Christine Hart tests the acoustics inside the former church sanctuary area of the renovated North Wales Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025.From church to event space
In December 2016 council voted to buy the church and office building from St. Luke’s United Church of Christ as the congregation faced dwindling enrollment and increased maintenance costs. The town rented the office space for art classes and use by local nonprofits, and the church area hosted several public concerts after the St. Luke’s United Church of Christ congregation held their final services there in April 2022.
Council then undertook a project to renovate and update both buildings, including upgraded HVAC systems, accessibility upgrades, natural gas heat instead of oil, and conversion into flexible space for shared use by local nonprofits or agencies to provide services in a local setting during emergencies like the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grants were secured in July and October 2022, and that September the town hired an outside consultant to oversee and detail the energy efficiency portions of the project. In June 2023 council awarded a $2.7 million contract for that work. Council approved the PTMA as a tenant last summer, as well as a contract with a local catering company to run private events there.
Literature and awards thanked the sponsors who helped organize the annual meeting of the Partnership TMA of Montgomery County inside the renovated North Wales Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Visitors admire the restored woodwork and modernized lighting and HVAC equipment inside the former church sanctuary area of the renovated North Wales Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Signs thank the contractors and grant sponsors that helped fund the renovation of the North Wales Arts and Cultural Center at 125 North Main Street on Thursday, May 15, 2025.All were on display Thursday morning, as dozens of dignitaries from the surrounding towns and beyond filed in. Tours started at the rear entrance, where a new wooden fence and fresh landscaping greeted visitors alongside PTMA signs, and double doors widened for accessibility led to a newly climate-controlled lobby. Inside, Hart and Assistant Manager Alex Turock tested lights and temperature controls, and pointed out details like the historic donors who contributed to each of the stained glass windows.
“That big one says, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Beaver,’ and we said ‘That must be where Beaver Street comes from,'” Hart said, pointing to details on a stained glass window. Staff plan to work with the town’s historic commission to identify and document those earlier donors and interview longtime church patrons about those early days.
“When we started re-stripping everything, we found the choir loft, and all the original beams that were once the church. Nobody can fabricate this: when you look at the woodwork up there, and know that is 100-plus years old, and you look at the windows — it’s amazing,” she said.
Seeing results
As visitors streamed in, the manager gave tours: former office spaces have been converted into fully accessible restrooms, and the former choir loft above the main sanctuary area now holds modern HVAC equipment, with temperature turned way down to accommodate the crowd of about 60 visitors. In the main banquet room sat six circular tables, surrounded by chairs, all furniture repurposed from a convention center in the Lehigh Valley that was liquidating.
“We got it done…the North Wales way,” Hart said, adding that a formal ribbon cutting will be held soon, likely in June once local officials confirm scheduling.
As they prepped for PTMA’s annual meeting, elected officials and staff from several surrounding towns schmoozed as they stood in line for the food, and brainstormed ways they could rent or use the new room, watching a PTMA slideshow that displayed highlights of their dozens of community events and projects from 2024.
“It really works for us. We wanted a place that was transit-accessible, and we’ve got the train station right there, we’ve got the (SEPTA route) 96 bus right there, having visibility on Main Street — and we’re all about strengthening communities,” Baxter-Rollins said.
For those who ride two wheels instead of four, bike racks should be installed later this spring, and doors will be locked and access by appointment only, so the workspaces are secure. While they’re still fine-tuning and crossing things off of the to-do list, PTMA has enjoyed having a prime location downtown, and a landlord that can put their rent to public uses.
“We’re giving our rent check to the borough instead of someone else, it’s great for them because they have reliable income from a tenant — it’s win-win-win all the way around,” said Baxter-Rollins.
Upcoming events coordinated or supported by PTMA include a “Touch a Truck” in Lower Gwynedd on May 17, a bike rodeo in Lansdale the same day, and a “Bike More, Drive Less” community meeting to discuss bike lanes in Hatfield on May 20. More events will be added to the PTMA website and social media pages as they’re finalized, and Baxter-Rollins said she and Hart had plenty of conversations on whether to move the meeting elsewhere, but both were glad they went ahead.
“We said, if it’s not going to be ready, we can move somewhere else, and she said ‘No — that gives us a deadline.’ And it’s really come together,” Baxter-Rollins said.
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