PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Several tenants of Philadelphia's Jewelers Row, the nation's oldest diamond district, have received eviction notices as a luxury home developer plans to build a high-rise condo tower on the block. After a nearly three-year battle, several shop owners are packing up after their landlord sold some of the buildings.

Jewelers Row is the nation's oldest diamond district but it's not locally registered as a historical landmark.

Now, at least five of these shops, plus several people living in second- and third-story apartments, have to be out by the end of May. And many are left scrambling.

"I've been here for 30 years and I have 60 days to get out," jeweler Jane Theis said.

Theis is one business owner among about a dozen business owners and renters along Jewelers Row who recently received an eviction letter stating they must be out by May 31.

"Just a sinking feeling mainly. My heart's broken. I don't know what I'm gonna do," Theis said.

Neither does Maryanne Ritter, who's been running her jewelry store here for nearly five decades. She, along with many others, have to leave by June before their building will get demolished.

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"I don't really have a plan right now," Katie Low said. "I'm not really interested in staying here watching a construction site.

The Toll Brothers bought several properties and plan to put a 23-story high-rise apartment building.

Some are welcoming the change.

"I think it's great. It's gonna bring people to our neighborhood who are gonna be customers," Jeff Barsky of Barsky Diamonds said.

Barsky remembers when Jewelers Row used to be full of life.

A photo from the 1980s shows many customers on the row. But today, there's little foot traffic and some storefronts sit vacant.

"If you take a look and see all the empty spots, all the places open for rent, it's a sad day," Barsky said.

Property owners like Roberto Pupo insist the store owners knew the evictions were coming because the Toll Brothers first announced their desire to build the apartments a few years ago.

"We told them three years ago they gotta go," Pupo said.

Pupo adds the store owners had many places and chances to move over the last three years.

"I feel badly. People get relocated all the time and hopefully they'll find a place," Mayor Jim Kenney said.

Kenney adds the city is working with some of the store owners to help them find new storefronts, but at least two businesses we talked to now plan to move out of the city.