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Toll Brothers' proposal to build a mixed-use high-rise on historic Jewelers Row was already unpopular with local businesses, but aggressive changes have now drawn the mayor's ire.
The original plan called for a 16-story residential tower with ground-floor retail, but a revised proposal calls for 29 stories, with no plans to preserve any of the historic signage of the 702-710 addresses of Sansom Street. Mayor Jim Kenney called the changes "deeply disturbing," although he noted Toll Brothers is still within it legal rights, Curbed reports.
“I had hoped from our previous conversations that they intended to be a good corporate citizen," Kenney said in a statement, "injecting much-needed investment into the area while still respecting its character, but this information calls that into question."
The development still needs to go through Civic Design Review, and Kenney urged Toll Brothers to heed the review board's recommendations or tone down the project themselves, or "risk sending a clear message that they no longer wish to have a productive relationship with the City of Philadelphia." [Curbed]
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