The former home of Allentown industrialist Gen. Harry C. Trexler has a new owner.
According to Lehigh County property records, the building at 926-928 Hamilton St. in downtown Allentown was sold to a Florida limited liability company for $954,000 in October.
The fate of the building has been up in the air for a few years since a project to combine it with 930 Hamilton and convert them into a five-story building fell through. The 2023 plans from Blackstone Structures included retail in both the basement and first floor, with 75 one-bedroom and studio apartments on the upper floors.
Realtor Loren Keim, who sold the property, said Blackstone wasn’t able to follow through with the project after one of the partners died before settlement.
The new owner is HCP 926 W Hamilton St LLC, which is based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The three-story building is 12,369 square feet and was being touted in real estate ads as a possible site for either a retail business or apartment building.
It is in the city’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone, Allentown’s unique taxing district that allows developers to redirect most state and local taxes toward development.
Trexler lived at the house, which was first built as a single family house in the mid-19th century, between 1885 and 1914. Most recently, Kruper Bros. operated an appliance store at 926 Hamilton from 1963 until second-generation owner Sandra Kruper retired in 2019.
Keim said the same buyer bought 808 Hamilton this year for $630,000.
Meanwhile, 930 Hamilton was sold separately to Joseph Colasuonno. It was previously the location for Applied Separations over the last 30 years and is scheduled to become the ArtsQuest Artist Studios.