Allentown’s 5 most anticipated developments coming in 2024
Projects to bring entertainment, housing that will either open or be nearing an opening date
2024 in Allentown will see the completion of several longawaited developments bringing housing, entertainment and education to the Queen City.
Here are the five most anticipated development projects next year that will either open or approach an opening date.
The Da Vinci Science Center
The downtown Da Vinci Science Center at PPL Pavilion is expected to open its doors in spring 2024. The new, 67,000-square-foot, three-story center at Hamilton and Eighth streets will have three times the amount of exhibit space as its existing location at Cedar Crest College, which opened in 2005.
Supporters of the $63 million center have compared it to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and Carnegie Center in Pittsburgh. Future exhibits include “My Body” sponsored by Lehigh Valley Health Network, an interactive exhibit about the human body and health, and the Lehigh River Watershed teaching guests about the natural environment in the area.
The new center will also feature a “STEAM” Learning Center that, through a partnership with the Allentown School District, will become a second campus for Central Elementary School students, who will have
access to “state-of-the-art” equipment and classroom space for science, technology, engineering, art and math programming.
The Da Vinci Science Center is a nonprofit organization, and organization leaders say they want the new science center to be not just a tourist attraction but a benefit to the local Allentown community.
The center is piloting a program that would allow recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to visit the museum for less than $3 a person, or $30 a year for a membership providing unlimited visits.
“We don’t want to be just dropping in an office center or an organization dropping in, saying, ‘Let’s bring some tourists,’ ” said Da Vinci Science Center CEO Lin Erickson in a 2022 interview.
“We want to be a center where residents feel it is their science center.”
Archer Music Hall and Moxy Hotel
Also coming to the western end of Hamilton Street in 2024 are the Archer Music Hall and Moxy Hotel, two adjoining projects from prominent downtown Allentown developer City Center Investment Corp.
Archer Music Hall will feature a main stage with a 1,500- to 1,800-person standing-room capacity, as well as a mezzanine and smaller stage geared toward comedy acts on the second floor. Robert Dilorenzo, City Center’s director of planning and construction, has said he expects the venue will bring over 200,000 visitors annually to downtown Allentown.
Next door will be the future Moxy boutique hotel, an experiential hotel brand by Marriott, at 949 Hamilton St. The $27 million, 58,000-square-foot, pet-friendly hotel will offer 133 rooms and is expected to open in September 2024.
The venue and hotel are part of City Center’s broader “Downtown West” initiative, the developer’s effort to revitalize the 900 block of Hamilton. Other projects on the block include proposed mixed-use developments at 926 and 960 Hamilton. That block is also home to the PPL Tower, whose future is unknown after the building was put up for sale in August.
Northridge
Downtown West is not the only major development project City Center is taking on in the coming years. Northridge, a $1 billion proposed masterplanned community on the long vacant former Allentown State Hospital site on Hanover Ave., will enter a crucial phase in 2024.
Developers have plans to bring businesses and restaurants to a retail corridor surrounding the Hanover Avenue entrance to the complex, which they are calling Northridge. The rest of the 200-acre site would be mostly residential buildings — a mix of town homes, single family homes and apartments — and recreational or park space. They also plan to bring office space, medical buildings and education space to the site, and would reserve at least 35% as open, undeveloped land.
With the rezoning approved, City Center will go through several phases of approval applications with the city before construction can begin, with increasing levels of detail on the plans — a master plan, a tentative plan and detailed plans for individual buildings as they’re ready to be developed.
City Center developers hope to begin construction on Northridge next year and complete the first phase in 2025.
1528 West Apartments
An apartment building bringing much-needed affordable housing to seniors and intellectually disabled people will also wrap up in 2024.
1528 West apartments, a four-story, 49-unit complex on West Hamilton Street will be developer HDC MidAtlantic’s second affordable-housing development in the Lehigh Valley. The apartments will help fill a much-needed gap in housing for adults with intellectual disabilities, advocates say.
The units are for adults 55 and older, and 10 are specifically for older adults with intellectual disabilities. It is believed to be the first affordable-housing development geared toward people with intellectual disabilities in the region.
The $18 million development received $1.8 million in grants from the city as well as funding from federal low income housing tax credits and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
Rents will range between $340 to $1,169 and will be available to people who make between 20% and 60% of the area median income. The building is expected to finish construction by the end of 2024 — those interested in living at 1528 West can email info@hdcweb.org to be notified when applications are open.
Lehigh River Waterfront
Once an industrial quarter, the Lehigh Riverfront area in Allentown is set to see a major transformation into a vibrant neighborhood with offices, apartments, restaurant and retail space, a scenic walking trail and outdoor amphitheater thanks to two developers’ efforts.
The Waterfront Development Co. unveiled the first of up to 12 planned buildings in October: a six-story office building on the site of the former Lehigh Structural Steel. Jaindl Enterprises, which is behind the Waterfront development, has already begun construction on the second structure, an apartment building with 203 units.
The entire Waterfront complex is expected to be complete in 2030 — developer Zac Jaindl said they plan to have 18-month construction cycles for each building, with about nine months of overlap into the next one.
Another developer, Urban Residential Properties, has also taken on redeveloping another portion of the Lehigh River area.
According to John Palumbo, its chief operating officer, the redevelopment of the former Neuweiler Brewery into Neuweiler Lofts, will include approximately 283 apartments and 40,000 square feet of commercial space, is under construction and will be complete in 2025.
Urban Residential Properties has six additional projects in the Lehigh Riverfront area, all in various stages of planning and predevelopment, Palumbo said.