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Toll Bros.: Country club deal is dead

Philmont won't sell 52 acres after all

Toll Bros.' proposed purchase of 52 acres at Philmont Country Club, on the Pine Road side of the Huntingdon Valley golf and tennis center, has been cancelled. "It is no longer under contract, we are not moving forward," Toll chief marketing officer Kira Sterling confirmed to me this morning. She wouldn't say why. Philmont general manager Ed Rubin didn't return a call seeking comment. 

As I reported in January, homebuilder Toll had agreed to buy the property, a few minutes from its offices, enabling the club to retain 27 holes and its clubhouse, pending a final sale agreement. Toll has been ramping up suburban construction as the high-end housing market strengthens. (Neither side would confirm a source's claim that the Philmont price approached $12 million.)

The recession was tough on country clubs: Toll is moving ahead with other golf-course-turned-home redevelopments, including the Barbin family's former Horsham Valley Golf Club in Montgomery County and the former Hercules Inc. country club near Greenville, Del. Developers have also purchased the Woodcrest (Cherry Hill, NJ) and Brandywine (Wilmington, Del.) country clubs, founded like Philmont by Jewish families during the old days of social segregation on the links.