Gary Jonas’ Philadelphia-based real estate development company, The HOW Group, had hundreds of units of housing in the pipeline when the COVID-19 outbreak hit. Some were already pre-sold or leased, like a 100-unit student housing project near the University of Pennsylvania, with residents scheduled to move in over the coming months.

But as the virus began to push much of the country into lockdown, Jonas says he didn’t take any chances. When Gov. Tom Wolf ordered “nonessential” businesses shut on March 19, he brought his construction projects to a standstill.

“If I have 125 employees, over our group of companies, I would say 100 of them are not working right now,” he said.

Like many business owners, he turned to government leaders for guidance about what to do next.

What he heard instead was confusion.

“In the beginning, the governor had said the construction was essential work. Then, the city said it wasn’t. Then the governor reversed his position,” he said. “Then [the Wolf administration] put something in place that said well, there are certain construction sites that are going to be essential.”

Soon, Jonas heard that some projects were back on, given special waivers by state officials allowing some developers to operate during the crisis. Critical infrastructure, like hospital projects. So were some nearly complete residential projects where delays risked a logistical nightmare for soon-to-be occupants.

“If 40 people are supposed to move in in two weeks and I have to shut you down, well, you can’t have 40 people be homeless. You have to finish that building,” he said. “We heard those projects were getting exemptions.”

Jonas applied for his own waivers on his student housing project, near 4200 Ludlow Street, and several nearly-complete townhomes in the city last week. He says he never heard back.

Meanwhile, he watched other projects deemed “essential” that didn’t seem quite as pressing. SORA West, a $325 million office and hotel complex in Conshohocken, Pa. will house a new headquarters for drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen –– once it’s complete in 2021. But the project was granted a waiver on March 25th, because it “plays a critical role in the manufacture and supply of goods and services necessary to sustain life,” according to state officials.

“It’s crazy that a job like that would get opened back up,” Jonas said. “They say the waivers are granted based on need, but they don’t’ tell you what a good ‘need’ is. So we’re just guessing.”