For Easton officials and residents, there was plenty of hope Thursday afternoon as they cut the ribbon on The Confluence, the latest downtown apartment complex.
The site at the corner of Third Street and Larry Holmes Drive was once a symbol of what was wrong with the downtown, they said. A former Days Inn there — dubbed the “Days Out” by Mayor Sal Panto — was a den of drugs and crime.
That’s long gone. The hotel was demolished in 2018 after the city acquired the property and gave the greenlight to Peron Development to build on the three-acre tract after a bid to relocate the Da Vinci Science Center from Allentown fell through.
The $70 million project — the largest residential undertaking in the city’s history — is projected to not only enhance the downtown, but act as a catalyst for housing at all economic levels across the city.
“What I’ve always admired from the outside looking in is sort of how organic the growth in Easton has been, and that they’ve done it really the hard way, block by block, storefront by storefront,” said John Callahan, Peron’s director of business development
Peron teamed up with City Center Group to build the 291,261-square-foot, six-story building with 274 apartments and retail space. There are one- and two-bedroom offerings, along with studios. Rents start at $1,450 per month.
The Confluence complements its sister complex, The Marquis, that City Center opened last year just up Third Street. Between them in the future will be the Residences at The Lynden. When completed in 2027, the seven-story building at 101 S. Third will feature 73 luxury condominiums ranging in size from one-bedroom to penthouse.
“Urban development is always complicated and risky, right?” said state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton. “But these projects are worth it, because they pay real dividends. Projects like The Confluence are the engines that drive regional growth.”
Panto said projects such as The Confluence will only add to the city’s coffers, bringing in about $1 million annually in local tax revenue that goes toward funding infrastructure, schools and safety while keeping property taxes stable.
“There’s 25% of people who hate development in downtown and all these big buildings,” Panto said. “But they don’t hate the fact that their property taxes haven’t gone up in 19 years. They like that.”
The Lehigh Valley is facing a housing shortage of about 9,000 units, according to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, and while The Confluence does put a dent in that, there were questions about affordable housing and how market-rate buildings can also have a positive impact.
City Councilman Frank Pintabone, who was among the speakers, said that developers who receive tax breaks for their projects are required to set aside 10% for workforce housing or a $10,000 per-unit fee to be put in an affordable housing fund.
Legislation was introduced in Easton City Council last week to increase that set-aside to 25%.
“I created a bill that passed last year where all developers [of] properties like this that have received any concession — grant, a tax break, anything — have to allocate 25% of their units to workforce housing,” Pintabone said. “And if not, they have to pay a fee to the city, and we’ll use it to create those units.”
He said the affordable housing fund has helped build new units in Easton, including an eight-townhome development on the South Side sold to moderate-income, first-time homebuyers. Panto said that the fund is being used in at least 20 other projects around the city.
Callahan cited a study by the Federal Bank of Philadelphia that said luxury spaces often help with affordability as residents moving into them free up more affordable housing units down the ladder, creating an upward mobility chain.
“The biggest issue with affordable housing right now in the Lehigh Valley is there’s not enough supply,” said Callahan, a former Bethlehem mayor. “That’s driving up demand, therefore driving up the cost. So anything at any end of the spectrum that adds to the supply, should help the demand and make things more affordable.”
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.