ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The developer behind a project to transform the former Allentown State Hospital property is marching along its marathon path to get the project up and running.
City Center planning and construction director Robert DiLorenzo on Tuesday presented the master plan for his company’s Northridge development to the Allentown City Planning Commission.
Planning officials unanimously approved the master plan following lengthy discussions that often got bogged down by questions about details that would be determined later in the planning process.
DiLorenzo called City Center’s masterplan a “high-level, bird’s-eye view” of the project. The developer still must get several boards to approve its tentative plans for the 195-acre property and its final plans for each building.
Two plans in play
City Center is considering two plans for the lot that housed a psychiatric hospital for almost a century.
The developer is working to put about 625 townhomes on the sprawling property, as well as offices, a “micro-hospital” and other facilities.
The developer’s preferred plan would also include a park and a senior living facility, DiLorenzo said.
City Center is working on two plans — one with about 625 townhomes, a park and a senior-living facility and one with about 750 townhomes.City Center executive Robert DiLorenzo
But the developer could scrap those two proposals and add about 120 more townhomes to increase density, as city planning employees have suggested, he said.
At least 70 acres of the property must be preserved for outdoor recreation, under the terms of City Center’s agreement with Allentown.
Allentown City Council last year approved a mixed-use overlay district to let City Center build on land zoned for industrial and governmental uses.
New school coming
City Center is proposing a two-story, 200,000-square-foot school with an athletics field along the west side of the Northridge property.
“This will allow … our students to have access to an innovative learning opportunity and space,” — an opportunity many Allentown students deserve but lack.Allentown Schools Superintendent Carol Birks
Students would access the school from Northridge Avenue, which is expected to serve as the development’s main entry point off Hanover Avenue.
Allentown Schools Superintendent Carol Birks on Tuesday urged planning commissioners to approve the new facility for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
“This will allow … our students to have access to an innovative learning opportunity and space,” — an opportunity many Allentown students deserve but lack, Birks said.
The developer noted in September that a project to build a new school can be done “at a much more reasonable price” than rebuilding at Mosser Elementary, which is less than two miles away.
“The East Side wants to feel more love. We can do just that” by opening a new school there, she said.
The Allentown City Planning Commission granted City Center preliminary approval for its plans to build the school, but the developer must come back with new drawings for the intersection at Hanover and Northridge avenues.
Initial renderings showed a roundabout near the school; designers then proposed a traffic light at that intersection. Now, it’s back to the drawing board to determine how best to keep pedestrians — many of whom will be school-aged kids — safe.
City Center is aiming to open the school in time for the 2027-28 year.
The developer expects to be back in front of the Allentown City Planning Commission next month.
