New housing added to Old Allentown redevelopment

22 townhouses or condos planned for former Hess's garage.

MONICA CABRERA, Allentown Morning Call , August 9, 2007

Some residents say they weren't told of plans to build new homes on the site of the Hess's department store empoyee parking deck at a meeting with Mayor Ed Pawlowski and other officials last month.

By Paul Muschick | Of The Morning Call

August 14, 2007

A plan to redevelop the Old Allentown neighborhood, with goals that include reducing population density and adding more homeowners, now also includes constructing new housing.

Twenty-two townhouses or condominiums are planned on the site of the former Hess's department store employee parking deck on Turner Street.

That's a surprise to some residents, who were not told about that part of the plan during a meeting with Mayor Ed Pawlowski and other city officials last month.

But as long as the new housing doesn't contribute to parking woes and other problems that are driving the redevelopment, some people said they welcome it.

''It's a good thing because that parking deck is an eyesore,'' said Bob Perrone of N. 11th Street.

Pawlowski told residents July 12 at St. Michael's Lutheran Church that the redevelopment would ''deconvert'' about 40 small apartment buildings back to their original use as individual houses.

The redevelopment plan's goals include reducing the number of people in the crowded historic district just north of the downtown business district and improving the condition of buildings by taking them away from absentee landlords and selling them to local owners. The belief is that local owners would have a stake in the community and not put up with noise, litter and other nuisances.

At the church meeting, and at a Planning Commission meeting five days later, new housing was not mentioned.

Pawlowski said building on the Hess's site always had been planned, but he expected it would be done later in the neighborhood redevelopment process. He said he wishes he had told residents of that possibility but didn't think about it after arriving at the church late and jumping right into his presentation.

Pawlowski said as of that night, the Hess's site was not part of the first phase of the redevelopment, but was added shortly afterward to solidify an application to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for a $2.5 million grant for the project.

''It was kind of a last-minute deal,'' Pawlowski said. ''I'm not hiding it from anybody. We took it to [the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority].''

He said new housing fits in with the Old Allentown redevelopment plan because while one goal is to reduce the number of people, other goals include increasing home ownership and revitalizing abandoned sites like the parking deck, along with refinishing streets, attracting new businesses, and maybe turning parking lots into parks.

The topic of new housing was discussed publicly for the first time at an 8 a.m. July 20 ACIDA meeting.

There, the authority, which owns the Hess's deck, agreed to sell it for $450,000 to Pennrose Properties, the Philadelphia firm that will manage the Old Allentown redevelopment and build the new housing.

Pawlowski said the goal continues to be to renovate 40 apartment buildings, with the new housing coming later and increasing the plan's estimated cost from $13 million to $17 million.

He said the parking deck redevelopment will boost the city's chances of winning the grant because it shows the city and its redevelopment partner have control over part of the redevelopment site, a factor the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency may consider.

The city has not bought or condemned the privately owned apartment buildings it intends to renovate and resell.

Tenants who are forced to move would be offered relocation money, counseling and other assistance, similar to residents of the Hanover Acres housing complex that was demolished last summer to make way for new housing.

Some people who attended the meeting at St. Michael's church wonder why even the potential for new housing wasn't disclosed. They want assurances it will not add to parking shortages, bring absentee landlords or low-income housing to the area, or add more noise and litter. Why build more, some people wonder, if a goal is to decrease the number of people by removing apartments?

''More housing means more parking, more kids in the schools, more of everything,'' resident Anne Crothers wrote in an e-mail. But, she wrote, ''it's nice to see a neglected or forgotten spot taken back.''

Crothers said she supports construction that provides green spaces, community centers and arts opportunities.

Pawlowski said Pennrose intends to build townhouses or condominiums similar to those being built on Walnut Street. They would have off-street parking and be marketed to working-class families at prices of about $170,000 to $220,000.

Resident Sharon Smith, who after hearing about the potential for new housing initially expressed concerns, said she would welcome that.

''The buildings that are going up on Walnut Street are just beautiful,'' said Smith, of N. 11th Street. ''If that's the kind of style and what they're going to put in this area, that's going to be a huge improvement.''

However, she said, the redevelopment must focus on renovating existing housing, too, or ''any new construction for housing or commercial use will not benefit the area.''

Other residents heard previously about the potential of new housing, including Jim Villaume, president of the Old Allentown Preservation Association.

''There's strong positives and strong negatives to it,'' he said, noting upscale townhouses would be good.

''On the negative side,'' Villaume said, ''it increases the density in the neighborhood.''

paul.muschick@mcall.com