Another proposed mixed-use, high-rise building with 200 apartments in Allentown’s riverfront neighborhood received conditional approval from the city’s planning commission Tuesday.
It’s one of four in the works from Urban Residential Properties to complement the redevelopment of the Neuweiler Lofts, which is nearing completion on Riverside Drive.
The West Residences at 2 Allen St. would be seven stories with 50 studios, 107 one-bedroom and 43 two-bedroom apartments and 18,000 square feet of retail space. The lot at the corner of Allen Street and Riverside Drive includes an old industrial building that once housed a scrap metal business, and the site is considered an adaptive reuse project.
Planners tabled this project at their March meeting after hearing about the property’s potential effect on the neighborhood, including issues such as parking, lighting and the building’s aesthetics.
At that meeting, neighbors expressed concerns about the narrowness of Brick Street, which borders the project site. It’s narrow, and snowplows have a difficult time getting through. Commission Chair Christian Brown wondered if the building could be moved about 5 feet to make the street wider.
Urban Residential’s architect, Carlos Tovar from Diseno Urbano, and partner John Palumbo presented updated plans that increased the building’s setback by 5 feet, moving the building face to 12 feet from the road.
Additionally, the design features smaller, residential-scale windows on the first and second floors along Brick Street to mimic the existing streetscape.
The plan is to have 240 parking spaces, and commission members expressed concerns about the viability of retail spaces without convenient parking. The developer agreed to earmark 40 surplus parking spaces in the garage for nonresidential use, with gate control after business hours.
Several commission members asked if a grocery store could be put into the retail space, and Brown asked Palumbo if he talked to any local businesses, such as CTown or Elias Market, about setting up shop there. Palumbo said he has reached out, but nothing further has happened.
Urban Residential also has proposed mixed-use buildings at 249-301 N. Front St., 115 Riverside Drive and 51 N. Front St., bringing a total of more than 1,000 apartments to the area.
The first two received conditional approval in March, while the one at 51 N. Front was tabled and then approved at May’s meeting.
The building at 249 N. Front — the former American Atelier factory — was badly damaged in a massive fire last month.