{"id":3467,"date":"2025-10-16T06:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T06:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/3467\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T06:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T06:16:17","slug":"developer-plans-modern-addition-at-historic-bank-in-center-city-allentown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/3467\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer plans modern addition at historic bank in Center City Allentown"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Allentown\u2019s top developer is ready to add \u201cthe final piece\u201d of the puzzle in the heart of the city \u2014 five years after first pushing forward with the project.<\/p>\n

City Center executives on Monday night presented scaled-back plans to revitalize the former Merchants National Bank at the southwest corner of Seventh and Hamilton streets.<\/p>\n

Allentown officials in January 2020 approved a proposal to build a 250-foot-tall tower with the old bank at its base.<\/p>\n

But the COVID-19 pandemic greatly altered ideas about office space and how it\u2019s used, forcing the developer to alter its plans to build what it said would \u201cbe the premier office tower in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allentown planning officials granted a two-year extension for the 1 Center Square project<\/a> in December 2023 after a City Center official detailed struggles to find tenants to fill the 16-story building, which could\u2019ve featured almost 300,000 square feet of space.<\/p>\n

Banners on the building Monday offer leases for Class A office space of up to 150,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

But a unit that size would be almost twice as big as what the developer now plans for the property.<\/p>\n

Contrast in construction<\/p>\n

City Center wants to break ground this fall on a project to add a fourth glass-enclosed floor on top of the 1900s-built bank, Robert DiLorenzo, planning and construction director, told Allentown\u2019s Historical Architectural Review Board on Monday.<\/p>\n

The 87,000-square-foot building also would be extended south along Seventh Street, according to the plans presented at the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to get that corner activated.”<\/p>\n

City Center executive Robert DiLorenzo on plans for the former Merchants National Bank<\/p>\n

DiLorenzo noted the Merchant National Bank\u2019s ideal location on \u201cMain and Main\u201d streets in downtown Allentown. Its neighbors at the intersection include the PPL Center and Two City Center. <\/p>\n

The developer hopes to secure an \u201canchor\u201d ground-floor restaurant and is in talks with companies about leasing office space, DiLorenzo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to get that corner activated,\u201d he said. He said the new building will \u201ccomplement \u2026 really well\u201d with a project to overhaul Center Square<\/a>, one of Allentown\u2019s busiest intersections for foot and vehicle traffic.<\/p>\n

The project would preserve and highlight the historic facade of the bank, DiLorenzo said.<\/p>\n

\"Allentown1CenterSquare2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Jason Addy<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

This rendering — presented Monday, June 2, by City Center to Allentown’s Historical Architectural Review Board — shows the developer’s plans for the former Merchants National Bank. <\/p>\n

HARB Chairman A.J. Jordan said he was \u201csad to see\u201d City Center is no longer pursuing its initial plans for a large office tower.<\/p>\n

But he credited the new project as a \u201cperfect example\u201d of using modern materials and styles to provide \u201ccontrast\u201d with and showcase historic buildings.<\/p>\n

Several other HARB members voiced support for the proposal and its aesthetics.<\/p>\n

DiLorenzo said he expects to present his company\u2019s 1 Center Square proposal this month to Allentown zoning officials and planning officials in July.<\/p>\n

Crews could get to work on the project this fall, with City Center eyeing a January 2027 opening, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Allentown\u2019s top developer is ready to add \u201cthe final piece\u201d of the puzzle in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3152,3153,119,3154,3155,121,120,3156,3157,3158,3159,3160,3161],"class_list":["post-3467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-1-center-square-allentown","tag-250-foot-tower-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-development","tag-allentown-former-merchants-national-bank","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-allentown-tower-plans","tag-center-city-allentown","tag-center-square-allentown","tag-downtown-allentown","tag-latest-proposal-for-center-square-allentown","tag-seventh-and-hamilton-allentown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467","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=3467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}