We bring broad experience to our commercial work, and we thrive on variety and challenge. As a trusted commercial architecture firm in Philadelphia, we focus on delivering comprehensive commercial architectural services. We love learning about each client’s unique business goals and ideas – and then helping make them a reality.
Commercial clients often bring detailed information to our engagements, but sometimes a project throws you a curveball. Toner Architects helps commercial clients navigate unexpected obstacles with responsive commercial architectural services. Review our work and you’ll see commercial enterprises ranging from restaurants and retailers to offices, mixed-use properties and industrial workplaces. From Center City high-rise renovations and South Philadelphia adaptive reuse to standalone restaurants, commercial buildings, and neighborhood centers throughout the suburbs, our work spans nearly every neighborhood, building type, and scale across the greater Philadelphia region.
As an experienced commercial architecture firm, Toner Architects brings deep expertise and a team of dedicated problem-solvers to your commercial architecture and interior needs. We often integrate consultants with special skills (some on our staff) to bring your vision to reality. Examples include, special engineering needs, lighting specialists, contract furniture sourcing, signage, wayfinding and much more.
Count on Toner Architects to bring reliable expertise to all of your commercial architectural projects.
Clients often engage us to help assist their teams work through expectations and design goals. This ensures you get plans and specifications you can depend on – and ones you are excited about.
Commercial clients also trust us to manage the complexities of the zoning and building codes. In short, we know the code maze and what the plan reviewers and inspectors are looking for when they review your project.
Toner Architects has designed commercial spaces across Philadelphia’s most distinct neighborhoods and business districts — from tight urban lots in South Philadelphia to hospitality builds in Fishtown and Rittenhouse Square. Working in a dense, historic city means every commercial project comes with its own site constraints, zoning overlays, and permitting quirks, and we’ve built our process around navigating exactly that.
Whether you’re opening a restaurant on a narrow rowhome-era street, converting a warehouse into office space, or expanding a retail footprint in Center City, we bring firsthand knowledge of how Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses & Inspections and zoning code will shape your project — before it becomes a surprise mid-construction.
We offer a range of pre-design services that can help you answer some of your project’s initial questions.
We can help you evaluate a space before you lease or buy it. By doing basic code research and a site visit, we can help you identify a building or site’s potential advantages and disadvantages.
In addition, we offer space programming and building master planning services. We can work with you and the end users of the space to determine how much space to allocate to the activities and functions that need to happen in your building.
During design, we will work with you and your team to incorporate the project intentions and program into a working design. We’ll explore options to determine the best path forward. As we’re working through the overall project layout, we can also help you with full-service interior design and furniture selection, making sure that the final materials, colors, and fixtures will coincide with your personal vision and company image.
For projects in the City of Philadelphia, we will take care of filling out forms and submitting drawings for permits. We’ll answer the examiner’s questions, and distribute everything up when it’s approved. That means you spend more time on focusing on your business, and less time dealing with the various City departments.
Though you might think that the architect’s job is finished after design, the architect actually plays a crucial role during construction. We act as your “interpreter” as the project goes from drawings to physical form, helping to communicate any design changes from your end, as well as issues that the contractor identifies as the project progresses.
We know that when working in the close quarters of an existing building, surprises inevitably come up, and we are there to help deal with them as they occur. We can provide quick solutions to situations as they arise, keeping the project on schedule.
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Commercial architecture firms in Philadelphia work on a wide range of projects, including office buildings, retail spaces, mixed-use developments, restaurants, healthcare facilities, religious, entertainment, educational, and industrial spaces, all requiring thoughtful commercial architecture design.
As one of the leading commercial architecture firms, Toner Architects emphasizes thoughtful design, client collaboration, and sustainable solutions rooted in real-world functionality and aesthetics. Due to our experience working on over 1,300 buildings, we have had the opportunity to work on all sorts of different project typologies of all scales. This means we have experience in a project that is most likely very similar to the one you are considering us for.
While our Philadelphia headquarters serves as our home base, we’ve completed commercial projects throughout the greater Philadelphia region, including work like our JBAS Tower project in Scranton and our Parachute Studios projects in Morrisville and Doylestown. That said, we deliver most of our commercial architecture services in Philadelphia, where we know the zoning and permitting landscape best.
Yes, Toner Architects can help evaluate an existing property before a lease or purchase and can assist with renovation, adaptive reuse, space planning, code research, and design. We have experience transforming existing Philadelphia buildings to accommodate new commercial uses and meet the needs of modern businesses.
Yes. For projects in the City of Philadelphia, Toner Architects assists with permit forms and drawing submissions and responds to examiner questions during the review process.
The process typically begins with an initial consultation to understand your goals, budget, site constraints, and program needs. From there, the architect develops preliminary concepts and a project roadmap tailored to your vision.
You can contact Toner Architects directly via the website form or phone to discuss your project goals, schedule a consultation, and learn how our commercial architectural services align with your vision.
Contact us to discuss your project, ask us questions and get to know us.
We’re a versatile firm working in a variety of capacities for a variety of clients. For private clients, we’re patient and thorough in crafting a new home. For commercial clients in the building community, we’re a force-multiplier in the Philadelphia region and in the city in-particular. In short, we’re here to collaborate with you. We’ll bring our best!
