Toll agrees to buy part of Philmont golf club

Toll Bros., the Horsham builder that specializes in fancy townhome developments and suburban McMansions, has agreed to buy 52 acres of the century-old Philmont Country Club, located less than 10 miles from Toll's offices in Huntingdon Valley, adjoining Northeast Philadelphia.

Toll's Nancy Cohen confirmed the agreement but declined to talk about Toll's possible plans for the site, noting the deal is not final. A source familiar with the talks told me the club hopes to raise as much as $12 million, enough for a fancy new clubhouse. Philmont officials didn't immediately return messages seeking comment.

Philmont was started by members of Philadelphia's Gimbel and Lit department-store retailers and other Jewish families, at a time when non-Protestants were seldom admitted to some of the area's leading clubs. Clubs dating from that era are among the many golf clubs that have felt financial pressure in recent years; last year the historically Jewish Woodcrest club, in Cherry Hill, and Brandywine club, in Wilmington, were sold to developers. Similarly the historically Catholic Frankford-Torresdale golf club is in partnership talks with Philadelphia's Union League, while the Italian-American Cavaliers club, near Newark, Del., has sold half its ground to builders.

Source: Philly.com