ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Allentown Planning Commission has given conditional approval for two apartment building projects. They would be mixed use.
A seven-story more than 240-unit one would go on Riverside Drive.
The other, a 16-story 360-unit project is slated for North Front Street.
“Allentown is the third largest city in Pennsylvania. I think the quality of living and bang for the buck in the city is incredible,” said John Palumbo, project developer.
Palumbo said he thinks Allentown has the most potential among mid-major cities in the northeast.
“I mean you have good proximity to other markets with a lot of people who want to move here, you have a really strong economy, you have a good job market, you have a lot of colleges,” said Palumbo.
“The buildings are popping up because they know people want to be in Allentown, they want to be in the Lehigh Valley,” said Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.
The mayor said demand keeps going up.
“I just got back from a trip from Puerto Rico and know that we have a nice, strong connection to the island. People, they’re leaving places like Puerto Rico and they want to be in places like Allentown,” said Mayor Tuerk.
Meanwhile, Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach said she feels these apartments are pricing people out.
“We need to focus on the communities and make sure development that is actually happening is benefiting the community and not a burden on the community and from what I’ve seen, that hasn’t happened,” said Gerlach.
Palumbo said affordable housing projects normally get tax incentive programs to be financially feasible.
He said these ones are privately financed.
“What I will say is we revised our plan. We did a lot of smaller units so a lot more studio, so they are more financially attainable,” said Palumbo.
Palumbo said he will be working to make the necessary adjustments for the other two projects that were tabled and he expects them to be back on the agenda.