ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Music is returning to Hamilton Street.
Allentown Planning Commission on Tuesday approved plans for the construction of the Archer Music Hall, a 31,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art entertainment venue at 935-937 and 939 Hamilton St.
- Construction of a 31,000-square-foot entertainment venue on Hamilton Street was approved by the Allentown City Planning Commission on Tuesday.
- Archer Music Hall will accommodate 1,500-1,800 standing-room patrons.
- The music hall will cater to music acts both established and on the rise.
Construction of the two-story venue, which would accommodate standing-room audiences of 1,500-1,800, is slated to begin in June, according to Robert DiLorenzo, director of planning and construction at City Center Investment Corp. of Allentown.
The Archer is scheduled to open in Spring 2024.
City Center said it's in discussions with four leading national operators to manage the venue and book three to four performances a week, DiLorenzo said.
“We’re trying to bring a vibe back to the streets here in Allentown,” DiLorenzo said. “We expect the Archer will attract more than 200,000 people to downtown annually.
"We’re looking to create nighttime activation. We believe this project is going to be a catalyst for more than the Lehigh Valley. We’re going to draw people from outside the valley to visit this venue for concerts, just like Crocodile Rock Café did on the street back in the day.”
DiLorenzo noted that Archer Music Hall will fashion itself after the format used by the now-closed Crocodile Rock, which — just blocks away — booked established acts and those on the rise.
He added that the venue also will hold comedy acts and special events.
“This project has been in the works for the past five years,” DiLorenzo said.
“We were trying to identify the best location in downtown Allentown. Our inspiration is the history of live entertainment of the city dating back to vaudeville. The old Rialto theater was at this site, so it’s great to have this new venue on that site.”
“We believe this project is going to be a catalyst for more than the Lehigh Valley. We’re going to draw people from outside the valley to visit this venue for concerts, just like Crocodile Rock Café did on the street back in the day.”Robert DiLorenzo, planner, City Center Investment Corp., Allentown
The Archer would do well to mirror the success of the Crocodile Rock Café.
Debuting in 1999, the wildly successful club sold 50,000 tickets per year in its heyday and routinely ranked among the top 100 busiest clubs of its size in the world.
Acts such as Taylor Swift and The Jonas Brothers played there prior to major success. The club closed in 2015.
DiLorenzo emphasized the Archer Music Hall will cater to events that draw smaller crowds.
“We’re not in competition with the PPL Center,” he said of the arena just two blocks away, which has a 10,000-seat capacity for concerts.
Designed by STUDIOS Architecture of New York, the Archer will showcase two distinct venues within the facility, DiLorenzo said.
The first floor will feature an expansive alcohol bar and the main performing stage, with limited food options.
The second floor will consist of a terrace, VIP balcony, green rooms and offices.
The two-story building will feature a main stage, bar and standing room on the first floor and a smaller stage, balcony, and open terrace on the second floor.
Outside, a traditional marquee will display the names of performers. The façade of the building would span five bays wide.
“There’s a lot of historic character on this [Hamilton Street] block,” DiLorenzo said. “We tried to incorporate that into the design.”
With advanced sound and lighting systems, commercial kitchen space and a DJ booth, the Archer also will accommodate corporate events and galas.
DiLorenzo revealed the thinking behind the venue’s name.
“I think Archer is inspired through the design of the building, with the arches in front,” he said. “But there’s also a family name in the organization that inspired the name.
“We also look at this venue being part of revitalizing the street, like the way the Apollo was in Harlem. And Apollo was the [ancient Greek] god of archery. This was like one of those stumble-upon kind of, ‘Hey, this is a cool name, because it means a lot of things.' We liked the parallel to the Apollo.”
The Archer is the first entertainment venue of its size proposed in Allentown since 2018, when a 1,400-capacity concert hall was planned along Seventh Street, but never materialized.
City Center also has proposed a five-story, 140-room hotel, with a ground bar and restaurant, to be constructed at 949-959 Hamilton St.
The project would call for the demolition of properties at those addresses to be demolished.
DiLorenzo said the next hearing with the planning commission on that issue is set for March.
