ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown planning officials on Tuesday granted a one-year extension for an affordable housing project, but the developer said he should not need it.
Cortex Residential is on track to break ground early next year on a 38-unit affordable housing complex at Eighth and Walnut streets, after successfully completing the city-approval process last year.
The project is “shovel ready” and more than $14 million in state funding has been earmarked for it; but that money has not yet been fully secured, co-founder Jonathan Strauss said.
The one-year extension was a “precaution in the event that something happens that pushes us past the original deadline date."Jonathan Strauss, Cortex Residential co-founder
Allentown City Planning Commission quickly and unanimously approved Strauss’ request for another year to officially file plans and begin the project.
The extension was a “precaution in the event that something happens that pushes us past the original deadline date,” he told LehighValleyNews.com.
Crews still expect to break ground in spring, and the building’s first residents could move in next year, Strauss said.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency is expected to be the main source of funding for the project — about $14.3 million — while Allentown chipped in $2 million of its allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The project includes the demolition of the parish house next to Life Church on South Eighth Street.
The historic church, the former St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, would not be touched as part of the project, Strauss has said.
