Amid the optimistic sounds of a drum corps and heavy construction, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski announced the expansion of an already extensive downtown reconstruction project, at a press conference held at Seventh and Linden streets.
As he stood facing the emerging steel skeletons of the PPL Arena and its attached hotel and office complex, Pawlowski said the development company City Center Lehigh Valley and Pennrose Properties will build a $30 million five-story mixed-use building that will include retail and restaurant space and 150 to 160 luxury one- and two-bedroom apartments, at the corner of Seventh and Linden streets, and Three City Center, a five-story office complex, at the corner of Seventh and Walnut streets.
To accommodate the increase in visitors to the downtown area, the mayor said, the Linden Street parking garage will be expanded, doubling the parking spaces to a total of 550.
He also unveiled an artist’s rendering of the projected extension of the pedestrian Artswalk, which will connect the Allentown Art Museum and other arts venues with the new arena, and will have a pocket park and new retail and restaurant space.
In addition to the arena complex, Two City Center, an 11-story office complex whose first five stories will be the new headquarters for National Penn Bancshares, is already underway, with a scheduled opening in May 2014.
The entire project, Pawlowski said, will create “a vibrant, walkable community.” The downtown area will be “a major destination in the Lehigh Valley,” he said.
All eight projects are scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2014, with the garage, apartment building and Artswalk to be completed next winter.
Following the press conference, a celebration was held in the nearby Arts Park, where the Drumline from the world-champion Cadets and the Xcape Dancers, both from Youth Education in the Arts, performed, along with a jazz band from the Miller Symphony Hall and live painting by several local artists.
Pulling Everyone Together
The transformation of Allentown’s downtown area has required “several years of a lot of hard work and heavy political lifting, making sure that everyone is pulling together,” said Pawlowski in a subsequent telephone interview.
In preparing for the construction, he said, Allentown City Council had to work together to condemn four city blocks.
“We put aside our political differences to get this done,” he said.
Pawlowski, a Democrat, had a background in urban planning before being elected in 2006. He said the first successful project for the city was the building of Coca-Cola Park, the home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs minor-league baseball team at 555 Union Blvd., which opened in 2008.
“It’s the highest-attended minor-league stadium in the country,” he said.
The Philadelphia Flyers noticed that, and when they were looking for a home for their Phantoms hockey team, they looked at Allentown. The result was the state tax-funded construction of the 10,000-seat PPL Arena, which will host hockey games and large concerts.
“That gives us the economic engine to drive development,” Pawlowski said. “But that isn’t what’s going to change downtown.”
He said the only way to do that is to make the city an environment where people feel safe, and where they want to live, work and play.
The Biz of NIZ
The establishment of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone, he said, “allowed us to attract developers and put us on a level playing field with the suburbs. You have to have developers with ingenuity and a willingness to take the risk.”
In stepped J.B. Reilly, a successful developer throughout the state and Allentown native, who became involved in downtown improvement two years ago, when the NIZ was created.
“It was a great opportunity to redevelop and transform a blighted downtown that happens to be my hometown,” Reilly said in a telephone interview.
He created the City Center Investment Corporation, a development company which has created a master plan for the downtown, whose public face is City Center Lehigh Valley.
Because most of the properties are privately funded, with help from the state, CCIC, as the guarantor of all the loans, is taking a big risk, but it’s one that Reilly felt will pay off as the city returns to life.
There are commitments from the Lehigh Valley Health Network for One City Center, and from National Penn Bancshares for Two City Center, whose additional offices have all been fully leased.
Reilly said the projects are working because of a “very strong public-private partnership” and because of the well-coordinated plan to create a live-work-play environment.
And Pawlowski said this is only the first phase of the downtown improvement saga. After 18 months and $477 million, Phase Two will be 36 months and $542 million to improve properties along the Lehigh River.
“It’s like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle,” he said.
SUSAN L. PENA is a freelance writer in Berks County who has covered business, development and the arts for more than two decades. Send feedback here.
CENTER CITY ALLENTOWN
The following projects are part of Allentown’s downtown improvement:
- PPL Arena, 10,000-seat hockey (home of Phantoms) and concert venue, Seventh and Hamilton streets, to open September 2014
- One City Center, seven-story office complex with Lehigh Valley Health Network sports medicine center, attached to the arena, to open Spring 2014
- Hotel (chain TBA), seven stories, attached to the arena, to open Spring 2014
- Two City Center, 11-story office complex, headquarters of National Penn Bancshares, Seventh and Hamilton streets, to open May 2014
- Three City Center, five-story office complex, Seventh and Walnut streets
- Five-story mixed-use building including space for retail and restaurants, and 150-160 luxury apartments, Seventh and Linden streets, next to Two City Center, to open Winter 2014
- Linden Street Parking Garage extension, to total 550 parking spaces, to open Spring 2014
- Artswalk extension, connecting Seventh Street to the existing Artswalk, giving pedestrian access from the Allentown Art Museum to the PPL Arena, to open Winter 2014