Several Allentown developments are slated to make major progress in 2023. Here’s what to expect
In 2023, several developments in Allentown are slated to make major progress — and many of them are outside downtown.
Over the last decade, Allentown has seen more than $1 billion of new development, most if it concentrated around the Hamilton Street corridor.
Much of that has been thanks to the Neighborhood Improvement Zone, a special taxing district created by state law in 2011 that incentivizes development.
But next year, some of the biggest development projects coming to the Queen City are outside of the zone, perhaps indicating that the city’s revitalization is extending beyond just downtown. Neighborhoods including south and east Allentown, as well as some in the two NIZ regions, will see major construction projects moving forward in 2023.
Here are several projects to watch this year:
Allentown Metal Works
The Allentown Metal Works in south Allentown has been vacant for over a decade.
But it is expected to see new life in 2023 as Lehigh Valley construction company Marcon Properties has reached an agreement of sale for the site. Marcon Properties will lease the two buildings to an affiliated entity, Eastern Exterior Wall Systems, a company that makes prefabricated wall panels.
Allentown Metal Works is in walking distance of several neighborhoods, and Charles Marcon, manager of Marcon Properties LLC, said the new project would bring 75-125 jobs to the site.
Developers will renovate the two remaining Metal Works buildings in two phases, with the first building expected to be ready by summer 2023 and the second by the end of 2024.
Allentown Economic Development Corp. Director Scott Unger said the agreement is an “encouraging project” that will bring urban manufacturing jobs, once the cornerstone of the region’s economy, back to Allentown.
Alvin H. Butz will be construction manager for the $35 million project.
The $11 million first phase of the project is fully funded, but AEDC and Marcon Properties are seeking more funds for the second phase.
Little Lehigh Public Housing
An Allentown public housing complex will see $27 million in improvements next year, with Phase I expected to wrap up this year.
Officials broke ground on the major renovation project at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Lehigh Street in November. The Allentown housing authority, which owns the complex, plans to demolish 56 apartment units and rebuild 50 mixed-income ones.
According to housing authority Executive Director Dan Farrell, the recently demolished buildings were built in the 1970s and had endured “significant wear and tear” over the last half century.
The 63,000-square-foot development, which is being built by Pennrose Properties, will consist of five buildings with one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments, a playground and a community building that will include a Head Start classroom.
Phase 2 of the project, which the housing authority is still fundraising for, will add around 40-50 more mixed-income and affordable units and will be farther up the hill from the existing buildings.
Western Downtown
Allentown’s most prominent real estate developer has plans to expand beyond the city’s core downtown.
City Center, headed by J.B. Reilly, is responsible for a vast majority of the approximately $1 billion in development spurred by the NIZ, much of which is concentrated around Hamilton and Seventh streets. But the prominent developer’s sights are now set on the city’s “Downtown West region,” surrounding the 1000-1200 blocks of Hamilton Street.
Developers broke ground on a $25 million, 125-unit apartment building at 1010 Hamilton St. in the summer, and will complete construction in approximately six months.
City Center also has two more buildings in that area of Allentown expected to open this year — the Gallery at Cityplace, with 107 units and a Dunkin’ on the ground floor, will open this month; and Walnut View at Cityplace, 909 W. Walnut St., will begin leasing 57 apartments in April.
Reilly said the expansion west was a natural progression because demand for housing downtown has soared,
“We thought that downtown there would be a demand for apartments, but the actual demand has far exceeded our expectations at a greater speed than we expected,” Reilly said at a groundbreaking ceremony over the summer.
According to Jeff Vaughan, spokesperson for the developer, City Center Residential will have 1,530 apartments in downtown Allentown by the end of 2023.
The city also recently completed $10 million in streetscape improvements, funded by excess NIZ revenue, which will bring sidewalks, lighting, trees, bike racks and pedestrian crossings to western downtown Allentown.
Waterfront
Development around the Lehigh Riverfront area, which has long been a blighted former industrial site, is slated for major progress in 2023.
According to Zac Jaindl, co-founder of Jaindl Enterprises, the developer’s Lehigh Waterfront project — which will bring 12 buildings, a 200-seat amphitheater and Riverwalk trail to the riverfront area — plans to open its first building to the public this year.
Jaindl originally announced the Waterfront’s first building, a six-story office building with a ground-floor restaurant, would open in October 2022. He told The Morning Call that building construction wrapped up that month, but Jaindl Enterprises had not yet finished preparing the space for tenants to move in.
He said the first tenants expect to move in next month, and Jaindl Enterprise would publicly announce the office tenants and the restaurant’s opening in late spring. Late spring should also mark the opening of outdoor portions of the Waterfront including the Riverwalk trail and outdoor amphitheater.
Jaindl has said he hopes the riverfront attractions will become a destination for all Allentown residents.
“Our intention always was to make sure that everyone felt very welcome down here,” Jaindl told The Morning Call last year.
Historic Allentown train station
The long vacant former Allentown train station could see new life in 2023.
Real Star Properties LLC received a $1 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant to renovate the historic building in November.
The renovation project will include installing roofing, gutters and downspouts; cleaning and pointing masonry; and exterior and interior doors and windows.
The train station at 300 Hamilton St. was open from 1890 to 1961 and served as a stop on the Lehigh Valley Railroad passenger train that serviced Allentown and Easton.
After the station closed, the building was renovated and converted into a restaurant in the early 1980s. Several restaurants occupied the space, most recently Banana Joe’s restaurant and nightclub, which closed in 2007.
Developers could not be reached for comment on the timeline of the project or its future use.