A nearly 100-unit housing tower is proposed for the hole left by Toll Bros. on Jewelers Row

Philadelphia developer Pearl Properties revealed a big new plan for Jewelers Row on Tuesday night, showing a soaring 95- to 99-unit housing tower for the now vacant lot that Toll Bros. created for its aborted project.

“Toll Bros. came in from outside of the city and went through a contentious process that we followed from afar,” Jim Pearlstein, president of Pearl Properties, said at a neighborhood meeting of the Washington Square West Civic Association and Society Hill Civic Association. “They had put their pencils down and really had no intention of developing the site. We’re very excited about this and what we’re showing you tonight.”

The building’s current renderings, which are almost certain to change, show a project named The Arbour House. It would comprise one- and two-bedroom housing units from the fifth to 34th floors, with 50 valet parking spaces on the second through fourth floors. The developer decided against underground parking, arguing that it would be difficult to do without endangering a neighboring historic building.

Pearlstein emphasized that the current presentation was just the beginning of the process. The renderings and designs could change; even the type of units in the tower was not settled.

“[At] Pearl Properties, we are apartment developers,” Pearlstein said. “So we think of this as an apartment project. That said, it’s a different world we don’t know. We’re not sure yet 100%” if it will be a mix of condos and apartments.

The project would also include a retail space of 1,495 square feet that Pearlstein hopes would be a restaurant. Although the site is a bit small, he noted that Pearl Properties apartment building The Harper near Rittenhouse Square contains the popular K’Far Cafe in an even smaller footprint.

The Jewelers Row project as currently constituted would require three zoning variances, with a hearing scheduled for Feb. 21, that would allow Pearl to build aboveground parking among other changes.

Another meeting with the civic associations will take place in November, after the groups have had a month to consider the current plans, with consideration by the city’s advisory Civic Design Review committee taking place after that.

At Tuesday’s meeting, concerns were focused on a lack of underground parking and how the building would manage moving trucks and delivery vehicles on the narrow confines of Sansom Street.

This is the latest proposal after seven years of controversy that began when Toll Bros. City Living division announced an ambitious plan in 2016 for a high-end condo tower on Jewelers Row.

Preservationists, small-business owners, and some residents of the area quickly fought back, arguing that the project would blow a literal hole in the city’s storied diamond district. The land was zoned for high-density use and was not covered by any historic preservation regulations.

In many ways, the campaign reignited the city’s somnolent historic preservation movement. But it did not save the chunk of Jewelers Row that Toll Bros. wanted to demolish, which began being razed in 2019. Then the pandemic struck, and no further action was taken after the site was cleared.

At the end of last year, Pearl Properties acquired the land from Toll Bros. Tuesday night’s meeting was the first public glimpse at what the developer has planned for the property.

Pearl Properties representatives at the meeting estimated that Toll’s last version of the project was 320 feet tall. The current proposal rises even higher, at 367 feet.

“Since Toll bailed on this project, we’ve had this hole in the middle of the block,” Rich Goldberg, who owns Safian & Rudolph Jewelers, said at the neighborhood meeting. “It’s not just the visual impact, but security concerns. It’s refreshing to most businesses and neighbors to know that there is someone stepping in to actually build.”