Penn Law Journal - Fall 2005

FEATURED BRIEFS

Q & A with Robert Toll

Tai Terry L'80 Becomes New LAS President

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FYI: Personal Updates

Toll, who started the company in 1967, is now the nation’s largest builder of luxury homes, with stakes in twenty states. He likes nothing more than to build 3,000 to 4,000 square foot castles with custom kitchens, marble foyers, vaulted ceilings, spacious master suites, and pools on wooded lots and in gated communities that go for half a million and up. He is also building urban high rise towers on the Hudson River; luxury condos in downtown Philadelphia; 3,000 home country club communities with Arnold Palmer Championship golf courses and active-adult lifestyle communities for affluent retirees and pre-retirees.

At 64, Toll remains in control of the company he built. These days, however, he often conducts business far from his Horsham, Pennsylvania headquarters — which leaves ample time for other pursuits, such as checking up on the conflict resolution camp, “Seeds of Peace,” he purchased for children from other cultures. On this day he spoke to us from his lakeside getaway in Maine, down the road from the camp.

Q: What’s it like to be considered one of the top CEOs in the world?

A: Everybody was pumped in the office. It’s mostly a reflection on them and not on me. (However), it’s nice to be recognized. Like Rodney Dangerfield, as an industry home building companies don’t get a lot of respect from the financial markets. Traditionally, homebuilding companies sell at 1/2 to 1/3 of what the multiple should be.