The Allentown School Board hired the realty firm Howard Hanna | The Frederick Group to sell the vacant McKinley Elementary School property during its Thursday meeting.
The sale of the McKinley Elementary site has been in dispute for years. In 2022, the school board voted to sell the property, along with the vacant Cleveland Elementary School site, by sealed bid and then rescinded that vote two months later in favor of selling to charitable groups.
The latter vote would have sold the McKinley property to Ripple Community Inc., an Allentown nonprofit that provides affordable housing and services for people experiencing homelessness, while the Cleveland property was set to go to Community Action Lehigh Valley.
The investment firm Cortex Residential claimed that Ripple, which it had formerly partnered with, had blocked the firm from independently buying the property. Cortex and Ripple had plans to build affordable housing on the site, but fell out over a dispute as to each partner’s role in the project.
Allentown School District Chief Operations Officer Robert Whartenby told The Morning Call that there are no plans to engage with any particular buyers for the property, nor does the district currently plan to again endorse affordable housing as a potential site use. Now that a Realtor has been hired, Whartenby said he expects many buyers to show an interest.
Community Action Lehigh Valley’s plans to build a $20 million youth center at the Cleveland site have progressed but are not complete.