- Ideal Concepts on Thursday announced plans for its Ideal Tower at the northwest corner of Eighth and Hamilton streets
- Plans call for a 21-story, 326-foot-tall building, which would be the largest in the Lehigh Valley
- The tower could be on one of the busiest blocks of the Lehigh Valley after a series a redevelopment projects there
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A developer who recently relocated to Allentown wants to reshape the city's skyline with a 21-story building it said will be the region's tallest.
Ideal Concepts plans to build its namesake Ideal Tower in the 800 block of Hamilton Street — a block east of PPL Tower, the Lehigh Valley's tallest building.
Though Ideal Tower would have three fewer floors than the PPL Tower, it's set to stand 326 feet high — 4 feet taller than the iconic Allentown structure.
The PPL Tower regained its title as the Valley's tallest building after the 2019 implosion of Bethlehem's Martin Tower, which stood 332 feet high.
Ideal Tower will feature more than 300,000 square feet of Class A office, as well as a restaurant and an auditorium, Ideal Concepts President John Pequeno said in a release.
“The Ideal Tower project has the potential to be an incredible asset for the Lehigh Valley,” state Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton, said in the release.
A hive of development
Ideal Concepts bought the five-story, 38,000-square-foot building at 801 W. Hamilton St. in 2017. The company moved its headquarters in October 2022 to the Butz Corporate Center just across the street.
That area already is bustling with projects.
“The Ideal Tower project has the potential to be an incredible asset for the Lehigh Valley."State Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton
A block to Ideal Tower's west, PPL Tower officially went on sale in late August. The corporation is moving its headquarters to Two City Center on Seventh and Hamilton streets.
The group managing the PPL Tower's sale has said "there's been lots of interest already" in that "exciting opportunity."
Mayor Matt Tuerk has called for the building to be turned into housing.
Directly to PPL Tower's east, developer Don Wenner of DLP Capital is working to turn most of a premier office building at 835 W. Hamilton St. into more than 100 luxury apartments. That complex is set to be called the Dream Grand Plaza.
The new Da Vinci Science Center is expected to open next spring on a property between the Dream Grand Plaza and the new Ideal Tower.
After the completion of the Ideal Tower, the north side of the 800 block of Hamilton Street will have been fully redeveloped.
