PHILADELPHIA | The Arbour House @ 708 Sansom | 414 FT | 35 FLOORS

[GtownFriend]

RIP...

Can you tell if they are actively working in the hole? Ie starting excavation/foundation prep?

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by GtownFriend

RIP...

Can you tell if they are actively working in the hole? Ie starting excavation/foundation prep?

I did not see anyone down in the hole. As far as active work, I only saw guys working on patching up the exposed sides of the buildings bordering the hole.

[700 Level]

I hadn't been to this building site in months. I stopped by yesterday, and I am very frustrated. The rhythm of Jeweler's Row has been demolished, and now we have an ugly hole in the ground. And the writing is on the wall:Toll Brothers is going to sit back and wait for clarity on the economic situation. It is so infuriating. This project should not have happened in the first place, and now we have the Disney hole's twin brother a couple blocks away. This is the worst project on the discussion board.

[reparcsyks]

Originally Posted by 700 Level

I hadn't been to this building site in months. I stopped by yesterday, and I am very frustrated. The rhythm of Jeweler's Row has been demolished, and now we have an ugly hole in the ground. And the writing is on the wall:Toll Brothers is going to sit back and wait for clarity on the economic situation. It is so infuriating. This project should not have happened in the first place, and now we have the Disney hole's twin brother a couple blocks away. This is the worst project on the discussion board.

You are 100% correct. I had forgotten about this demo. No way Toll Bros is going to build now. I wish the city had the balls to force them to build, but we all know we’re stuck with an ugly hole for the next 10 years, probably longer.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by reparcsyks

You are 100% correct. I had forgotten about this demo. No way Toll Bros is going to build now. I wish the city had the balls to force them to build, but we all know we’re stuck with an ugly hole for the next 10 years, probably longer.

Truly unbelievable that this was ever allowed to happen. As soon as constriction is allowed again they should be fined every day they're not working toward removing this eyesore they created. Toll bros. is the worst.

[Inquizative]

Originally Posted by allovertown

Truly unbelievable that this was ever allowed to happen. As soon as constriction is allowed again they should be fined every day they're not working toward removing this eyesore they created. Toll bros. is the worst.

Allowed to happen?! You're drawing an awfully large conclusion. No one anticipated this pandemic. I seriously doubt that the Toll Bothers thought, "let's blow some money to tear down this building and make an unsightly hole and leave it.....Just for kicks, and giggles." I love to see Philly grow with new construction as well but this is a very unfortunate event that we all are faced with. We need to stick together, and try to be optimistic. I pretty sure once they lift the ban, (like Atlanta) things will be business as usual. Hopefully we'll be able to shake hands again without apprehensions.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by Inquizative

Allowed to happen?! You're drawing an awfully large conclusion. No one anticipated this pandemic. I seriously doubt that the Toll Bothers thought, "let's blow some money to tear down this building and make an unsightly hole and leave it.....Just for kicks, and giggles." I love to see Philly grow with new construction as well but this is a very unfortunate event that we all are faced with. We need to stick together, and try to be optimistic. I pretty sure once they lift the ban, (like Atlanta) things will be business as usual. Hopefully we'll be able to shake hands again without apprehensions.

You heard me. Should not have been allowed to happen, should never have received a demolition permit.

I'm not talking about the pandemic. Go back through this thread. This project would be embarrassing if they finished it, I've been against it from the beginning. Historic preservation in this city is a joke. And I'm not even against the general concept of adding density here, but there's a million and one ways to accomplish that in a way that wouldn't destroy the whole fabric of the block like this project did.

Obviously at this point I'd rather have the tower built, but my confidence is not high. And I'm all for trying to be optimistic, I've been in the Laurel thread expressing confidence they'll finish that building asap. But this is a different situation. They haven't even started construction and dicked around for months even before the pandemic. What's going to be their rush now? You think they care there's a giant hole here? Judging by the first proposed design here which could best be described as downright contemptuous, I don't think they care in the least what happens here or what this block looks like. All they care about is the bottom line, and starting constriction on a luxury condo building in the middle of a global pandemic, likely doesn't square with those goals.

I'm with reparcsyks, we're likely stuck with this mess for a decade. I can only hope toll ends up selling to anyone who even gives half a shit about jeweler's row and Philly.

[cardeza]

So Toll has announced they are shelving this project?

Saying buildings shouldnt be demoed because of the chance an unexpected crisis could stall construction makes no sense. Disney hole was a totally different. That never made financial sense and was only advancing due to huge subsidies.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by cardeza

Saying buildings shouldnt be demoed because of the chance an unexpected crisis could stall construction makes no sense.

Good thing no one is saying that. I said historic buildings shouldn't be torn down to build poorly designed stacks of shit.

Minimum should have been facade preservation here. The pandemic is irrelevant to this stance, but it wouldn't hurt that if this project is stalled for a significant amount of time, the block would feel less like a bomb dropped on it in the meantime.

[DudeGuy]

I walked by this site on my morning walk - nothing going on and no machinery on site. A little concerning seeing as there were plenty of other crews doing work in the area.

[DudeGuy]

I saw some people doing inspections on site today. Maybe not dead?

[mcgrath618]

I think there are some on this website that are wishing this thing's demise into existence.

This project was never dead.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by mcgrath618

I think there are some on this website that are wishing this thing's demise into existence.

This project was never dead.

Remain pissed these building were demolished, but they're gone now. What would be the point of not wanting this built at this point?

I remain unswayed in my opinion that I don't think anything will happen here until there is more economic certainty, but hoping for the best. Would be very happy if I'm wrong and construction started tomorrow. A giant long lasting scar in the fabric of jeweler's row would devastating for the businesses there, and they're likely struggling plenty already.

[TK2001]

I honestly don't care for what was demolished, it's kind of normal to have historical buildings demolished here. I'm glad we're seeing Philly grow, especially the skyline

[Frontst17]

They didn’t have to be demolished. I don’t see how gashing a historic district for an inward looking glass enclave helps philly. At 315ft it won’t be anything special either. I’ll forget about this one within weeks of it being built

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by allovertown

Remain pissed these building were demolished, but they're gone now. What would be the point of not wanting this built at this point?

I remain unswayed in my opinion that I don't think anything will happen here until there is more economic certainty, but hoping for the best. Would be very happy if I'm wrong and construction started tomorrow. A giant long lasting scar in the fabric of jeweler's row would devastating for the businesses there, and they're likely struggling plenty already.

I don't know if this is a reasonable hope, but I'd like to see Toll Boys decide they can't make this work, sell at a big loss, and have the next buyer build something of some beauty. And for all of you who get height hard ons, I'd be ok with this site holding a much taller building, as long as it was a good building.

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by City Wide

I don't know if this is a reasonable hope, but I'd like to see Toll Boys decide they can't make this work, sell at a big loss, and have the next buyer build something of some beauty. And for all of you who get height hard ons, I'd be ok with this site holding a much taller building, as long as it was a good building.

Not sure I see it happening. People on this board love to hate on Toll for some reason but the fact is they are by far the biggest developer in the region (at least on a national scale) and the only one in the Fortune 500. They have the wherewithal and financing capabilities to weather this storm more than other local developers so I fully expect this to happen still. This project has been going on for a long time and they’ve managed to clear all of the hurdles thrown at them and I very much doubt it would be better to sell at a loss rather than develop. If anything they’ll just transfer this to their apartment group and do apartments instead.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

Not sure I see it happening. People on this board love to hate on Toll for some reason but the fact is they are by far the biggest developer in the region (at least on a national scale) and the only one in the Fortune 500. They have the wherewithal and financing capabilities to weather this storm more than other local developers so I fully expect this to happen still. This project has been going on for a long time and they’ve managed to clear all of the hurdles thrown at them and I very much doubt it would be better to sell at a loss rather than develop. If anything they’ll just transfer this to their apartment group and do apartments instead.

People hate on toll because they're in the Philadelphia suburbs and yet what have they actually built in Philadelphia? They'll build nice skyscrapers in other cities and then their big foray into the Philadelphia Market involved a highly controversial project that knocked down historic buildings and their original design was so dog shit terrible, it might as well have been a giant middle finger to this city.

The fact that they're a fortune 500 company, is just more bad news. Because you're definitely right, they could sit on this for as long as they want and not really feel any pain. Unfortunately I don't think there's a chance in hell they sell it for a loss. If they don't want to start building, why wouldn't they hang on to it for years and wait until it makes more sense to build? All the hard work of securing demolitions and getting approval for the project is over. This will be a profitable development location at some point again in the future, and they have the resources to wait until however long that is.

And I know people hate to hear it, but after the buildings were demolished, they did shit for months before the pandemic became an issue. Clear as day that their rush to demolish the buildings was all about the fear that a future decision could prevent their demolition, and nothing to do with a rush to actually start construction. If they were already dragging their feet in a good economy, hard to imagine they're very motivated in the midst of a global pandemic.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by allovertown

And I know people hate to hear it, but after the buildings were demolished, they did shit for months before the pandemic became an issue. Clear as day that their rush to demolish the buildings was all about the fear that a future decision could prevent their demolition, and nothing to do with a rush to actually start construction. If they were already dragging their feet in a good economy, hard to imagine they're very motivated in the midst of a global pandemic.

This.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by allovertown

People hate on toll because they're in the Philadelphia suburbs and yet what have they actually built in Philadelphia? They'll build nice skyscrapers in other cities and then their big foray into the Philadelphia Market involved a highly controversial project that knocked down historic buildings and their original design was so dog shit terrible, it might as well have been a giant middle finger to this city.

Yessir. The Tolls were among that cohort of suburbanites who pushed to change the regional identity from the Philadelphia Area to the Delaware Valley in the mid-70s for branding reasons b/c the city had such a dog shit reputation.

To be fair, they've built a few things in town - two to be exact: Naval Square and its south street extension (which is effectively a walled off community - see point above - and some very faux looking townhomes) and the Society Hill project. Meanwhile, they've built 30+ projects - including several handsome high-rises - in/around NYC.

They suck.