ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A developer working to bring an affordable housing complex to Allentown now has zoning approval to build a similar project in the heart of the city.
The Allentown Zoning Hearing Board on Monday unanimously approved Cortex Residential’s request for relief on sight triangles on the three-story, 33-unit building it’s proposing for 43 S. Seventh St.
Plans call for a mix of units with one, two and three bedrooms.
Those units will be reserved for households that earn 20-60% of the area median income (AMI), a range that includes annual incomes of about $15,000 to $65,000, Cortex co-founder Jonathan Strauss told zoning officials Monday.
A one-bedroom unit for households making 20% AMI will cost about $370 a month, while a three-bedroom unit for households earning 60% AMI would cost about $1,500, Strauss said.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency regulates income and rent limits, he said.
“We’d like to provide a community that’s not just housing but also provides an opportunity for the folks that reside here to continue to climb the socioeconomic ladder."Jonathan Strauss, Cortex Residential co-founder
The building is set to also feature amenities and a host of supportive services, including health care partnerships, financial literacy courses and professional development, Strauss said.
“We’d like to provide a community that’s not just housing but also provides an opportunity for the folks that reside here to continue to climb the socioeconomic ladder,” Strauss said.
The building could be ready by mid-2026 if the PHFA approves a grant for the project during its 2024-25 funding round.
'A key milestone'
The developer needed zoning approval to submit its application for support from the PHFA ahead of an impending deadline.
Funding from the state agency would come with a requirement that Cortex rent its building to low-income households for at least 40 years, Strauss said.
The developer must still obtain approvals from other city boards and await an answer on its PHFA application.
Strauss called the zoning board’s approval a “key milestone for the project” and said it showed members’ “commitment to supporting the creation of new affordable housing.”
Cortex is set to buy the South Seventh Street property from Lehigh County. It's now a narrow parking lot that runs along Walnut Street.
Groundbreaking coming
Strauss expects his company will break ground on its first affordable housing project in Allentown in the first half of 2025.
The planning commission in June 2023 approved Cortex’s plans for a four-story, 52-unit complex at South Eighth and Walnut streets, but the developer scaled back its plans to three stories and 38 units based on its grant from the PHFA.
Cortex also got $2 million from Allentown’s allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for that affordable housing project.
Many of the building’s units would be reserved for households that earn 20% of the area’s median income. The complex also would include units for residents in the 40%, 60% and 80% AMI income levels.
Plans for that project include the demolition of the parish house next to Life Church, tentatively scheduled to begin next month.
The historic former St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church will remain untouched throughout the project, Strauss has said.
