Toll Bros. Next Move Could Be Improved

Toll Bros. next development site

By now, most people have heard of Naval Square, the Toll Bros. development on the western end of Graduate Hospital. A combination of rehabbed historic buildings and new construction condos, Naval Square has drawn 1200 new residents to the neighborhood since the first units sold in 2005. The development is seriously impressive in terms of preserving and restoring historic buildings from nearly 200 years ago, and the architecture of the new construction homes seems to fit aesthetically into Philadelphia standards. Also, the nature of this development likely lured hundreds of people to the city who would otherwise be living in the suburbs. On the other hand, this attraction for some folks who live there presents a hurdle for the surrounding neighborhood; by building walls and locking gates, Naval Square seals itself off from the rest of the community, which has a negative impact on the immediate neighbors.

View from Bainbridge St. of the northern side of Naval Square. Not such a welcoming streetscape.

As construction winds down in Naval Square over the next year or so, Toll Bros. is now looking to its next development project at 2400 South St. Their proposal is to knock down the existing buildings on the lot, and construct 122 units of townhomes and condos with over one parking space per unit. The condo building will sit on 24th St., and the rest of the parcel will contain stacked town homes.

While we are generally in support of development, and believe the bones of this project to be pretty good, we have a couple of suggestions to improve it.

1) There should be commercial space as a part of this project, ideally on 24th St. and South St. Toll Bros. does not, to our knowledge, do commercial rentals, but there would be nothing stopping them from doing some commercial condos. With efforts to improve the Grays Ferry triangles and development coming to the corner of Grays Ferry and Bainbridge (more on that in coming days), there seems to be an opportunity to create a small commercial corridor that would benefit neighborhood residents, Naval Square residents, and residents at 2400 South St. Looking at the rendering of the condo building on 24th St., we can certainly imagine at least a store or two in there.

The top image is looking from 24th St., the bottom image is looking from inside the development

2) Is there anything they can do about the walls? If you look at the south side of the site plan above, Bainbridge St. is set to have walls from Naval Square on one side, and walls from 2400 South St. on the other side. Toll Bros. will create a complete dead zone between the houses further west on Bainbridge St. and the Grays Ferry triangles. Perhaps they could eliminate the courtyard in the middle of the development and create frontage on Bainbridge St for the townhouses? More houses on the street means more eyes on the street means more life on the street which means more safety on the street.

We’re excited to witness the dialogue on this development and from what we understand, Toll Bros. is willing to listen. Sources yesterday told us that they are currently undertaking a commercial study for this development. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to seeing improvements on this site which has fallen into disuse and disrepair.