142-unit complex proposed for Hellertown area

The former Neighbors Home & Garden Center in Hellertown is being targeted for apartments, hoping to attract Interstate 78 commuters and others.

Hellertown officials received informal sketch plans last month for a three-building, 142-unit complex, according to Cathy Hartranft, borough manager.

Hartranft said developer Lou Pektor is seeking a zoning overlay that would add a residential component on the nearly 6 acres, now zoned as highway commercial district.

Plans call for three, four-story buildings with 45-50 apartments in each, Hartranft said. She said last week that future sessions to review the project had not been scheduled. The planning commission would need to give a recommendation to borough council, which must approve the project.

Northampton County property records show the Neighbors property is still owned by Geraldine and Andrew Panick Jr. Geraldine Panick declined to comment. Gabriel Solms of Pektor’s Ashley Development said the property is under an agreement of sale.

“We haven’t seen anything come through as far as a purchase of the property,” Hartranft said.

Neighbors, which was in the first block of Main Street (Route 412), closed in July 2020 after more than 30 years in business.

Solms, who is a senior analyst with Ashley, said monthly rents for the as-yet-unnamed Hellertown complex would be targeted at $1,200$1,300. More than three quarters of the project’s units would consist of studio or one-bedroom units, with the remainder two-bedroom apartments, he said.

Pektor is no stranger to residential and commercial development in the Lehigh Valley. In Hellertown, he built Bethlehem Fields about 15 years ago; the 216 apartments are off Cherry Lane and near Interstate 78. He also has 102 apartments under construction on Lafayette Drive in Forks Township.

In September 2019, River Pointe Logistics, whose development team includes Pektor, bought 20 parcels spanning 725 acres of undeveloped land in Upper Mount Bethel Township for $17 million, with plans for 15 manufacturing and distribution buildings totaling 6 million square feet.