PPL Building in Allentown has buyer
D&D Realty Group plans apartments, mixed-use spaces
The Lehigh Valley’s tallest, most recognizable building has a buyer.
PPL Corp. said Friday in a news release it has an agreement to sell the 24-story PPL Building to Scranton-based developer D&D Realty Group for $9 million.
The developer’s proposed plans for the property include new mixed-use commercial spaces, apartments and other amenities, PPL said.
“We were excited to see the plans proposed by D&D Realty Group and the economic opportunities additional mixed-use commercial and residential space would bring to downtown Allentown,” PPL President and CEO Vincent Sorgi said in a statement. “Our company has been proud to call Allentown home for a century, and we plan to remain part of the city’s growth story. The Tower Building remains iconic within our community, and we think these future plans will secure its legacy for decades to come.”
Mayor Matt Tuerk said he was excited about D&D’s commitment to maintain the iconic Allentown landmark.
“From all indications, I think PPL did a thorough search and is bringing in a good quality developer who is going to honor the legacy of Allentown,” he said.
The Allentown energy holding company announced in June that it was leaving its headquarters at Ninth and Hamilton streets. It has since moved hundreds of employees to its new offices at Two City Center, 645 Hamilton St., about
two blocks away.
Two City Center, which has a 20-year lease with PPL, is owned by Allentown’s City Center Investment Corp., headed by developer J.B. Reilly.
A PPL spokesman said at the time that the reason behind the sale and move was size; its office complex was larger than the company needs.
The 400 workers who have moved into Two City Center occupy about 100,000 square feet. The Tower Building is 205,000 square feet, with as many as 700 people working there a few years ago.
About 1,200 people work for PPL in the Lehigh Valley, which has operations in Kentucky, Virginia and Rhode Island besides Pennsylvania. Its PPL Electric Utilities distributes electricity to 1.5 million customers throughout 29 eastern and central counties in Pennsylvania, including Lehigh and Northampton.
D&D is known for its redevelopment projects, converting properties into mixed-used commercial and residential spaces. They have renovated old buildings in downtowns in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area for several years.
“As developers, our bread and butter has been transforming historic downtown office buildings into mixed-use developments with a focus on high-end residential and complementary commercial uses,” said Nick Dye, co-managing member of D&D Realty Group, in a statement. “PPL’s iconic headquarters provides us with the perfect canvas for our vision of high-end, downtown living in the Lehigh Valley.”
D&D Realty has invested more than $24 million in developments in northeastern Pennsylvania since 2011, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Projects include renovating the former PNC Bank building in downtown Wilkes-Barre into 40 upscale apartments, and the SNB Plaza in downtown Scranton, adding two-dozen more apartments.
Other endeavors included renovating the historic Oppenheim Building in Scranton with 74 residential units and commercial tenants on the first floor and a rooftop bar/restaurant and the Steamtown Lofts. The company also partnered with Wilkes University to open a child care center near the campus.
Dye couldn’t be reached for additional comment Friday.
Realtors interviewed by The Morning Call said last year most of the PPL Building could be converted into residences or a hotel. Its cross-street neighbor on Hamilton, the former PPL Plaza and office building opened by PPL for its former energy supply business, is being rechristened into luxury apartments and redubbed Dream Grand Plaza.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming a new neighbor, who surely recognizes the value of downtown Allentown’s continued revitalization,” said Don Wenner, founder and CEO of DLP Capital, owner of PPL Plaza. “I think we’re on the cusp of more great things to come for downtown.”
PPL worked with Colliers, a professional services and investment management company that specializes in commercial real estate, and received a wide range of interest in the building complex.
The tentative agreement with D&D Realty Group needs approval from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. That’s because the building is actually owned by PPL Electric Utilities Corp., a PPL subsidiary, company spokesperson Lissette O. Santana said. “We will be filing with the PUC soon,” said.
A PUC spokesperson was not available for comment.
“We look forward to remaining a steady presence in the city, to engaging as we have for years to build a stronger community, and to keeping our corporate headquarters here in Allentown as we create the utilities of the future in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Rhode Island,” Sorgi said.
Two City Center, where PPL employees currently work, is in the Neighborhood Improvement Zone, a program unique to Allentown that allows virtually all state taxes created by development in the zone to be tapped by property owners toward debt from their building projects. The PPL Building is not part of that zone.
Tony Iannelli, president and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the tower is “an iconic building and represents Allentown and the Lehigh Valley.”
“We will embrace the developer, and I hope the developer embraces the Lehigh Valley and knows what this building means for the community,” said Iannelli, whose office is less than a block away.
Iannelli said he would like D&D Realty to keep up the longtime tradition of lighting up the building each holiday season. Every year since the 1930s, from late November to early January, PPL would illuminate its windows several stories high in bright green and red in the unmistakable shape of a Christmas tree on the building’s east-facing side, and a yellow-and-red candle light display on the building’s west-facing side.
“I hope [D&D Realty] keeps the Christmas tree,” Iannelli said. “I’ve known this building since I was a child growing up in Allentown. It’s a symbol of this city and a big part of the community.”
Tuerk said he intends to “strongly advocate” for maintaining the lights when he speaks with the developer. He said to him, the most iconic part of the tower is its crown, with the light guiding people into the downtown from afar.
“For me that tower is so central to my Allentown experience,” Tuerk said. “My kids used that tower as the way to point home.”
State Rep. Josh Siegel, D-Lehigh, whose district includes the property, said he’s glad PPL worked to ensure the building continues to be part of the downtown’s revitalization.
“Post-COVID urban development requires a renewed commitment to the things which make cities special, unique, and desirable: their walkability, their accessible amenities, and their vibrancy,” said Siegel, D-Lehigh. “Mixed-use development is critical to ensuring that cities continue to thrive by creating robust availability of housing next to the jobs people desire, the attractions they demand and the resources they need.”
He added that the plans for PPL complement other projects happening along Hamilton Street.
“This redevelopment project is critical to the continued revitalization of the Hamilton Street Corridor, and bringing new residents to this crucial corridor will complement ongoing projects such as the Da Vinci Science Center, Archer Music Hall, Moxy Hotel, and the conversion of the PPL Plaza,” Siegel said. “It shows that Allentown is yet again on the leading edge of urban renewal and a strong model worthy of replication.”
State Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton, was pleased the building will not sit vacant for long.
“By utilizing this large space and developing it into a mixeduse building, we are continuing to evolve and revitalize our downtown, creating more jobs, attracting more residents and continuing to invest in our region,” Miller said.
Developer Nat Hyman, who has experience with residential and business projects in the city, said he hadn’t heard of D&D Realty before the announcement, but said it has an impressive portfolio.
He said the newcomers will have a long road ahead in redeveloping the building. Besides the sales price, D&D Realty will have to pay property taxes and upkeep while navigating through zoning and planning hearings. Things, such as asbestos, will have to be addressed.
“It’s not a fast process in Allentown,” Hyman said.
After that, the company will have to sell the units in a market already dominated by City Center Investment Corp. Hyman said D&D appears to have a track record, unlike some others who have come to Allentown, though he wondered why the market needs more luxury apartments.
“From our perspective, we have over 1,000 units in Allentown and we’re always happy when people are building upscale units because it makes ours all the more desirable,” Hyman said. “We’re building workforce housing.”
At 324 feet, the PPL Building has been the tallest building in the Lehigh Valley since 2019, when Martin Tower in Bethlehem was demolished. Completed in 1928, the PPL Building presided over Allentown when the city was bustling. And though the city’s skyline has been redrawn in the last decade, the 24-story tower, a work of Art Deco architecture, has remained a familiar landmark.
More on PPL
PPL has been around since 1920, cobbled together from eight other electric companies.
The company’s history is inseparable from the Valley’s industrial history. It supplied the juice to steel and cement plants and, by World War II, became the world’s largest consumer of anthracite coal, the kind mined out of Pennsylvania hills.
By the late 1920s, the company had about 80,000 customers. A decade later, it had a half-million.
In its first decade, PP&L — it kept the ampersand until 2000 — began a rural electrification program to spread power to the countryside. In 1926, it built Lake Wallenpaupack at the border of Wayne and Pike counties to feed a hydroelectric plant. The lake became, and remains, a popular camping and vacation spot.
PPL, which ranks 470th in the latest Fortune 500 list of American companies by revenue, sells electricity and natural gas to 3.5 million customers. Here is more, according to PPL’s website:
■ Annual revenue: $7.8 billion
■ Employees: about 6,700
■ Service area: 20,600 square miles across four states — Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Rhode Island