Toll Bros. gets permit to demolish Jewelers Row buildings for condo project

The Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections has issued a demolition permit for the five properties on Center City's Jewelers Row that developer Toll Bros. aims to replace with a 16-story condo tower.

Toll's demolition contractor, Haines & Kibblehouse, was granted the permit on Wednesday, L&I spokeswoman Karen Guss said. The contractor has six months to begin tearing down the buildings, she said.

Demolition is scheduled to start around mid-2017, with the project expected to take two years to complete, Tim Spreitzer, a spokesman for Horsham-based Toll Bros.' City Living division, said in an email.

The permit arrives amid harsh condemnations by preservationists and merchants in the venerable Sansom Street shopping enclave, as well as calls by Mayor Kenney to treat the site with sensitivity.

"The question becomes, do they intend to use [the permit] given the clear wishes of the general public and the request of the mayor to at least preserve the facades," said Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.

Covered by the permit are the five buildings from 702 to 710 Sansom St. and a contiguous property at 128 S. Seventh St.

The permit was issued a day before the Philadelphia Historical Commission is to consider listing three of the properties on the city's Register of Historic Places. The buildings were nominated for the register by the Preservation Alliance in an effort to derail plans for the 80-unit tower.

The Historical Commission's Committee on Historic Designation voted Oct. 21 to recommend the listings, a prerequisite to consideration by the full city panel.

In most cases, developers seeking to alter properties listed on the register must prove to the commission that preserving them represents a special hardship.

But a decision to list the buildings would not, under city code, affect Toll's ability to tear down the buildings, because applications for demolition work were filed before the nomination for historic protection, Guss said.

Steinke, however, said he believes a legal argument can be made to stave off demolition if the buildings are listed.