Toll Bros. parts ways with Piazza Auto Group on Ardmore apartment development

A project slated to be the largest apartment building in Ardmore will have to move forward without Toll Bros., the Fort Washington-based mega-developer.

The 279-unit apartment complex would replace the Acura and Volkswagen dealerships owned by King of Prussia-based Piazza Auto Group, which has little experience with residential development. That’s why the auto selling company allied with Toll for the ambitious project in downtown Ardmore.

But the partnership between Piazza and Toll, which dates to 2019, came to an end this month.

“We are separating from Toll Bros. as a result of the market conditions that have developed over two to three years with the pandemic and costs increasing,” said Rich Orlow, a certified public accountant and attorney who represents Piazza Auto Group’s owners.

Toll Bros. declined to comment for this story.

“We had a difference of opinion,” Orlow said. “It’s not uncommon to have a difference of thought on a project of this magnitude.”

Orlow said Piazza plans to move forward with its basic existing plan. That would call for the demolition of the existing dealerships and a nearby and since-shuttered IHOP to make way for an apartment building and a 615-space, partly underground parking garage. One apartment building would be six stories high and the other five stories.

The apartment project received permits to move forward before a 2020 zoning change imposed height limits on Ardmore that would preclude a new project of this scale.

Piazza still has several years to act on its existing permits before they expire, although the new zoning law could complicate things if they don’t act soon.

Under state law, if a locality changes its zoning after a project has been permitted but before development starts, the property owner has five years to build under the old approval. If progress hasn’t been made after that time, the property owner has to conform with the new land use rules.

“If they don’t make substantial progress in a five-year period, they would have to develop under the new zoning,” said Christopher Leswing, director of building and planning for Lower Merion Township, of which Ardmore is a part. “But substantial progress could just be building the foundation. They don’t need to build the whole thing; they just need to make progress.”

Leswing noted that Piazza could also ask for an extension of the approvals and that there is a precedent for Lower Merion granting such a request in cases where a project has been hobbled by seismic macroeconomic events like the Great Recession or the pandemic.

The project is slated to include 70,000 square feet of retail and would stretch from Ardmore Avenue to Greenfield Avenue on the south side of Lancaster Avenue, with the two dealerships relocated to other Piazza locations.

It followed other recent multifamily developments in Ardmore, such as Carl Dranoff’s 110-unit One Ardmore Place and Kimco Realty Group’s 131-unit Coulter Place in Suburban Square, which is under construction.

Orlow said Piazza probably would look for another partner.

“In all likelihood, we will team with somebody who has experience in that area,” Orlow said. “Our core business is the auto dealership world. But this is such a specific project in a very important area. We want to make sure that the team is capable and known to the township, so we can properly move the project forward.”