PALMER TWP., Pa. — A final decision over several variances that would let a former Crayola site in Palmer Township be turned into apartments will have to wait until at least February.
The township Zoning Hearing Board on Tuesday opted to close up shop just after 10 p.m., after more than two hours of testimony on proposed variances to turn the buildings at 2025 Edgewood Ave. into 94 apartment units.
The hearing for 2025 Edgewood Ave. LLC will continue at 7 p.m. Feb. 4 at 3 Weller Place in Palmer Township.Palmer Township Zoning Hearing Board
The hearing for 2025 Edgewood Ave. LLC will continue at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 3 Weller Place in Palmer Township.
Presenting on behalf of 2025 Edgewood Avenue LLC and developer Nat Hyman, attorney John A. VanLuvanee pushed the idea that the space, zoned for light industrial and mixed-use purposes, required the variance to make any use of the building, which has sat idly for years.
VanLuvanee was able to introduce two of his seven expert witnesses — real estate broker Matthew Sprung and professor of finance and Director of Integrated Real Estate at Lehigh University Stephen Thode, during Tuesday’s session.
They built the argument that the Crayola site — which consists of four buildings encompassing about 102,000 square feet — can only really work as a residential space.
The meeting’s agenda detailed six variances required for the property, though the primary focus fell on permitting the use of the property for apartments.
'There is no way'
Sprung provided a background for the property, which consists of 8.9 acres across three lots, with two of those lots sitting in Palmer, including one 2.75-acre portion on which the buildings sit.
According to Sprung, three of the four buildings, which used to harbor manufacturing and office space, are four stories, with one five stories, ranging from 67 to 124 years old.
The property was acquired by an LLC in 2019 for $5.225 million, Sprung said, though few parties were interested enough to bite. A self-storage company was ready to settle, but backed out of a contract.
The price point for the property was reduced several times before finally dropping to $3 million in 2024.
At a point where any light industrial buyers or those interested in office space could pick up the spot at $2.99 per square foot — with average rates in the Lehigh Valley hovering between $8 and $25 for similar spaces — it appeared the location would not move.
“But it's my opinion that given this building, and given this real estate market in particular, there is no way that anybody's going to come in here and invest the money necessary in order to make this a viable redevelopment for one of the existing uses,” Sprung said.
No other financially feasible uses
Sprung said that over 20 months, he showed the property to eight developers interested in turning it into a residential space, with five of those offering to buy the space.
But without a variance, that application was off the table.
Thode said he had been tapped by Hyman to provide advice on the property in October.
He later agreed to serve as an official adviser to 2025 Edgewood LLC, particularly to explore the potential for turning the property into a residential spot.
“My opinion is that given the location of 2025 Edgewood Avenue, given the size of the buildings at 2025 Edgewood Avenue, given the multi-level nature of the structures, and the lack of market demand for the permitted uses, that I do not see any of the currently permitted uses being financially feasible as a redevelopment of 2025 Edgewood Avenue,” Thode said.
Thode said that that post-coronavirus-pandemic, the need for office space has declined drastically, limiting the appeal for the buildings.
He also said there's almost no demand for large-scale abandoned industrial buildings for revival — at least in terms of their old use.
'We just want to fill it'
Most industrial buildings take government intervention and financial incentivization, Thode said, providing two local examples.
“I can remember the first time I drove into the Lehigh Valley to interview at Lehigh, before I took the job, driving by the Dixie Cup building on 25th Street," he said.
"And I'm not sure it was abandoned in 1981 but I'm sure that by the mid-'80s, it had become an abandoned property.
"And here we are, 40 years later. How many different owners have put their hands on that property try to figure out how to get it to work, and haven't been able to get it to work?"Stephen Thode, professor of finance and Director of Integrated Real Estate at Lehigh University
"And here we are, 40 years later. How many different owners have put their hands on that property try to figure out how to get it to work, and haven't been able to get it to work?
“And now, presumably with substantial financial incentives through tax increment program, maybe, maybe that property will get rebuilt.
"The Silk Mill, which is not far from the subject property here, 14 years it took from the time the city of Easton took possession of it until a developer built it out, and that was residential, it was not industrial.”
Thode said adding 94 single-occupancy apartments in the area would provide a boon to Easton Area School District via taxes, in addition to Palmer and the City of Easton taking in earned income taxes.
And demand for rental space in a lower-cost-of-living area is blossoming, Thode said, with plenty of workers from New Jersey and New York opting to settle in the Lehigh Valley.
It’s just a matter of building those apartments to make it happen, Thode and VanLuvanee said.
“We just want to fill it,” VanLuvanee said.
