ALLENTOWN, Pa. – We have exclusive details about the future Allentown Art Museum at 10th and Hamilton streets.
Museum officials are applying for it to be part of the NIZ.
They’ll go before the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Authority Wednesday night to seek acceptance into the special taxing district.
In an exclusive interview, Allentown Art Museum’s CEO tells 69 News if the museum becomes a part of the NIZ, it will act as an economic driver for downtown, while also benefiting from some of the tax dollars returning to the district.
Allentown Art Museum President Max Weintraub says if the future art museum is added to the NIZ, it will be a win-win for the museum and other downtown businesses.
“Hoping that we can get permission to enter into the NIZ to benefit from some of the state taxes that return to the NIZ, being a museum that currently sees about 60,000 visitors, and we’re cautiously and conservatively optimistic that that number in our new location will increase to 100,000 a year or more,” Weintraub said.
That’s an estimated 100,000 people who will park, eat and shop downtown.
The future museum will take the place of the Allentown police sub-station at 10th and Hamilton.
The museum will span 55,000 square feet and cost $55 million.
“The architect is Studios architecture firm, which is a world-renowned architecture firm, they were most recently in the news this summer as winning the bid to renovate the Louvre in Paris, which is one of the preeminent institutions in the world,” Weintraub said.
ANIZDA is having a special meeting at 5 p.m. to hear the proposal. And it’s expected to make a decision the following week.
Coming up on 69 News at 5, we will be live from the meeting with more details about the NIZ proposal, what the new museum will be like, and how you can help make it happen.