Al Boscov has been given the green light to redevelop five buildings on Penn Square in downtown Reading.
With a 5-2 vote, City Council approved Monday night plans proposed by Our City Reading, the nonprofit group founded by Boscov, to redevelop the city-owned buildings in the 400 block of Penn and the first block of North Fifth.
The proposal is for commercial entities to occupy the first floors of the buildings, officials said. No definitive plans are in place for the upper floors.
Reading used $2.5 million in federal money to buy the properties at 445, 447, 449, and 451 Penn St. and 12 N. Fifth St. in the summer of 2013.
City officials have said they want to undertake a combination of demolition, rehabilitation and new construction in order to market the properties for uses that will contribute to the revitalization of Penn Street.
One stipulation is that the buildings can’t be used for low-income housing.
Boscov has been behind a number of recent development projects in center city, including the IMAX theater and GoggleWorks apartments at North Second and Washington streets and the DoubleTree Hotel currently being built in the 700 block of Penn, across the street from the Santander Arena.