ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A developer’s plans to convert the Lehigh Valley’s tallest building from offices into apartments faces one last big hurdle this week.
D&D Realty is lining up to buy the PPL Tower from the building’s namesake corporation in January if it earns approval Monday night from the Allentown Zoning Hearing Board.
The developer is seeking a special exception from zoning officials to complete the office-to-housing conversion project in downtown Allentown.
“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.”D&D Realty partner Nicholas Dye on the Lehigh Valley's housing crisis
D&D Realty executives last month detailed their vision to the city’s planning commission.
Developers want to put a restaurant on the first floor and commercial spaces on the second, with 112 apartments above that.
D&D partner Nicholas Dye told LehighValleyNews.com the region is not only facing a housing crisis but also an office-space surplus.
“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.”
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in July unanimously approved the PPL Tower’s sale, as well as the complex at 2 N. Ninth St. to D&D Realty.
Holiday lights
The Wilkes-Barre-based developer plans to continue the long-running holiday lights tradition at the PPL Tower, though it’s likely to take a new form in coming years.
PPL each winter lit the east side of its namesake building as a Christmas tree and the west side as a flickering candle.
"We want to be a good neighbor coming into town. Clearly, it's something that's important to everyone, so that means it's important to us, too."D&D Realty partner Nicholas Dye
It’s not “practical” to keep lighting the 96-year-old building that way once it’s converted to a residential structure, Dye said.
He said he’s working on two ideas to “pay homage” to the traditional lights.
"We want to be a good neighbor coming into town,” Dye told LehighValleyNews.com.
“Clearly, it's something that's important to everyone, so that means it's important to us, too."
