2 weeks Ago
Construction is about to begin on a new apartment building in downtown Allentown. It’s blocks away from PPL Center, the Da Vinci Science Center, Archer Music Hall, offices and restaurants.The Swans, which will have 142 units and its own parking garage, is being built on the 800 block of West Turner Street.
Unlike much of the development downtown, that is outside the Neighborhood Improvement Zone, the city’s unique taxing district.It’s about a block away from the NIZ, directly across the street from Central Elementary School.Developer Gary Newman, left, along with state Sen.
Nick Miller, Mayor Matt Tuerk and state Rep. Josh Siegel at the groundbreaking for The Swans apartment on Turner Street in downtown Allentown. (Evan Jones/The Morning Call)For city officials, who were there for a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday afternoon, the fact the $29 million project from developer Gary Newman and Blackstone Structures is moving forward is a sign that redevelopment is continuing to move out from the Hamilton Street corridor.
“It’s really a testament to the success that we’ve cultivated here in the city, that a variety of developers now see the value in Allentown and are all beginning to take root and invest together,” said state Rep. Josh Siegel, D-Lehigh.Mayor Matt Tuerk gave a history lesson about the plot of land at 826 Turner.
It used to be the employee parking deck for the former Hess’s department store and then sat abandoned for several years after it was demolished in 2009.“It was an eyesore and a disservice to the neighborhood,” Tuerk said. “Now we know that not only will 142 new units of market-rate housing come to this neighborhood, but a level of excitement and a breath of life and fresh air is going to come to the neighborhood.
New families are going to be coming to the neighborhood.”Newman said if there are no more delays, the project should be completed in 18 months. Blackstone also received $300,000 from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program toward a 46-space parking garage that will sit below the apartments.
The money will go to the concrete foundation systems, floor slabs, grade beams, columns, shafts and the elevated deck for the parking level of the building, which will also have retail space.Blackstone bought the land at 826 Turner in 2022 for $400,000 from the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority, according to Lehigh County property records. It then bought the neighboring house at 828-830 Turner for $300,000, from Kheir & Kellar Investment Partners.
Newman thanked the city for working with him on developing the plans for The Swans, which underwent revisions. Demolishing the three-story house added another layer of city administration because it was in a historic district, and City Council needed to grant permission for the work.“The reason it took so long to get this to fruition was my fault in that I wanted to try this opportunity to expand the footprint through some land acquisition,” Newman said.
“The consensus seems to be it’s a much, much better project than it was as a consequence. I could not have done any of that without the help, without the continued support of the planning, zoning engineering departments.”Blackstone has two other projects along Hamilton Street that are on the drawing board: A 12-story building with nearly 200 apartments, a campus for a local community college and a rooftop restaurant at the corner of 10th and Hamilton; and a five-story, mixed-use building at 926 and 930 Hamilton, the latter of which is Allentown industrialist Harry Trexler’s former home.
“We’re still trying to get them over the finish line,” Newman said.Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at [email protected].
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