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Is Toll Brothers' project on Jewelers' Row in limbo?

Progress on a 29-story residential tower that Toll Brothers Inc. proposed for Jewelers’ Row appears to have hit a lull after reaching a succession of milestones late last year and earlier this year that had advanced the project.

The project has been working its way through a typical approval process since last summer when it was first revealed that the Horsham developer was looking to construct a tower in the historic district. Even by last November, the Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections issued a demolition permit, paving the way for what had initially been a 16-story building. By late December, that tower grew to 29 stories, causing a stir from critics and even Mayor Jim Kennedy.

In keeping with the course developers take on their way to getting a project OK'd, Toll Brothers met in late January with Washington Square West to unveil renderings of the project and, by early February, faced the next hurdle, going before Philadelphia’s Civic Design Review.

Then things came to a halt and Feb. 7 was the last time Toll Brothers was publicly championing its controversial residential tower. At that design review meeting, Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) was met with skepticism over the design of the building as well as questions over its height and whether more could be done to incorporate historical façades into the project. Usually a developer will make revisions based on that input and present those changes at a follow up meeting.

In between then and now, Brian Emmons, a vice president at Toll Brothers who was shepherding the project through the approval process, left the company after more than 10 years of focusing on expanding the developer’s presence in Philadelphia.

While it looks as if the development is in limbo, a company spokesman says otherwise. Through Tim Spreitzer, Toll Brothers said Emmons departure does not affect the project from moving forward and that the company “is continuing our planning process and working with a number of stakeholders involved in the Jewelers’ Row development. We are excited to move forward with this project.”

The company has been and expects to continue meeting with public and private stakeholders, the city and the civic design review board on the project, Spreitzer said. It does not have any new renderings it plans to share publicly at this time.

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