ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Hundreds of people soon could be living in PPL Tower in downtown Allentown.
The city Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously backed D&D Realty’s plans to convert the 24-story building into 112 apartments.
A restaurant is slated for the ground floor, with commercial uses on the second. One- and two-bedroom apartments would be spread out across the next 20 floors.
That includes two-bedroom penthouses on floors 21 and 22; the top two floors would be used for mechanical systems and elevator equipment, D&D partner Nicholas Dye said Tuesday.
“You have too much office space, and you have not enough housing. Our bread-and-butter is converting that old office space to nice residential units.”Nicholas Dye, D&D Realty partner
Those apartments would be market-rate but “very nice,” with in-unit laundry and other amenities, he said.
The Lehigh Valley is facing a housing crisis, according to many measures and officials, and the conversion of PPL Tower — the region’s tallest building — could go some way toward addressing that problem.
Dye highlighted another problem in the region.
“You have too much office space, and you have not enough housing,” Dye said. “Our bread-and-butter is converting that old office space to nice residential units.”
‘Excited to put our spin on it’: Developer
D&D Realty, founded in 2010, develops properties while also providing brokerage, management and construction services for commercial and residential real estate.
It has led several residential redevelopments, including projects at the historic Oppenheim Building in Scranton and the former PNC Bank in Wilkes-Barre.
“We’re very excited to take such an iconic building in the Lehigh Valley and put our spin on it."Nicholas Dye, D&D Realty partner
D&D has no plans to change the building’s exterior — beyond switching a few windows on each floor — Dye said.
The company is working to add PPL Tower to the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that would restrict any alterations, he said.
“We’re very excited to take such an iconic building in the Lehigh Valley and put our spin on it,” Dye said.
D&D hopes to earn approval next month from Allentown Zoning Hearing Board before starting to gut the building in January.
Dye said he expects interior demolition and reconstruction, which will occur simultaneously, to last about two years.
The project is expected to cost about $35 million, he told LehighValleyNews.com.
Christmas lights to live on?
The sale of the PPL Tower has raised questions about the future of its beloved holiday tradition.
Dye on Tuesday said it’s not possible to keep the building's long-running holiday lights — the east side a Christmas tree, the west a flickering candle — glowing in their current state after the 96-year-old building is converted into apartments.
“That’s just obviously not practical,” Dye said.
He said the lights will be lit again this season without D&D’s involvement. PPL still owns the building, with D&D planning to finalize its purchase if it earns zoning approval next month.
But he opened the door to bringing the tradition back next year in a new form.
Dye said they’re working on two ideas to “pay homage” to the traditional lights display. The PPL Tower’s conversion could mean the start of a new, if familiar, tradition for Allentonians.
