{"id":292245,"date":"2026-09-23T12:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/292245\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T12:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:38:33","slug":"cornerstone-senior-housing-project-advances-in-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/292245\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornerstone senior housing project advances in Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long-planned affordable senior housing development at Sixth and Chestnut streets in Reading has moved another step through the city\u2019s approval process.<\/p>\n

City Council, sitting as the city\u2019s Historical Architectural Review Board, held a public hearing Thursday on plans to transform the long-vacant former Berks Engineering complex into Cornerstone at Sixth and Chestnut.<\/p>\n

The project by HDC MidAtlantic and Landis Quality Living calls for preserving and rehabilitating portions of the historic industrial complex while replacing severely deteriorated sections with new construction.<\/p>\n

The development is planned for 46 apartments for residents 62 and older. The Reading Planning Commission unanimously approved its preliminary land development plan in June. The project previously received $1.7 million in annual low-income housing tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.<\/p>\n

A certificate of appropriateness is needed because the property at 201 through 225 S. Sixth St. is within the Prince Historic District.<\/p>\n

\"AA depiction of the transformation of the long-vacant former Berks Engineering complex into Cornerstone at Sixth and Chestnut, an affordable senior housing complex. (Courtesy of Reading)<\/p>\n

Council is temporarily handling higher-level historic preservation reviews following the collapse of the city\u2019s HARB earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Gary Weaver, managing principal of Tippets Weaver Architects, said his firm began working on the project in 2023, when the complex had already suffered extensive deterioration after years of vacancy.<\/p>\n

Although the original intention was to retain more of the historic buildings, Weaver said continued deterioration made that impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, although they were great historic buildings, many of them really could not be saved or rehabilitated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The oldest building, at Sixth and Chestnut, will be restored, along with other surviving portions facing Sixth Street. New construction will fill much of the remainder of the site, forming a roughly U-shaped building around a landscaped courtyard.<\/p>\n

The architects also plan to preserve reminders of the property\u2019s industrial past, including a crane rail at a former loading area. The crane itself will remain inside the new lobby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that that tells some of the history of the building,\u201d Weaver said.<\/p>\n

Much of Thursday\u2019s discussion focused on how a new section along Chestnut Street should relate to the historic buildings.<\/p>\n

The architects propose using slightly different brick and flat-topped windows to distinguish the new construction from the original architecture.<\/p>\n

\"CornerstoneCornerstone at Sixth and Chestnut is planned for 46 apartments for residents 62 and older. (Courtesy of Reading)<\/p>\n

Scott Graham, president of Muhlenberg Green Architects and a consultant to the city, generally supported the project but questioned whether that section should instead more closely replicate the demolished historic facade, including its arched brick window headers.<\/p>\n

Graham described the issue as a gray area between historic rehabilitation and reconstruction and said the disagreement involved relatively minor details.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the proposed changes are really impactful to the overall scope,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Weaver said the project architects view the section as new construction rather than a reconstruction because the deteriorated original wall could not safely be retained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose to differentiate the new building by a change in the color of the brick,\u201d he said, adding that flat-headed windows provide another subtle distinction between old and new.<\/p>\n

Assistant preservation specialist Lisa Charlanza told council that former historic preservation specialist Amy Johnson had recommended approval before leaving the city.<\/p>\n

\"CornerstoneCornerstone at Sixth and Chestnut is planned for 46 apartments for residents 62 and older. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

Johnson resigned, effective Sept. 11, after more than 30 years with the city to take a public sector preservation position outside Reading.<\/p>\n

Charlanza said she had no reason, based on Thursday\u2019s presentation, to oppose approval if council accepts the architects\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n

No members of the public spoke at the hearing.<\/p>\n

Council is expected to render its decision on the certificate of appropriateness by resolution at its Oct. 12 or 28 regular meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long-planned affordable senior housing development at Sixth and Chestnut streets in Reading has moved another step through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,4736,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-292245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-essential-reading","tag-housing","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}