ALLENTOWN, Pa. — City officials are planning to revamp the intersection at 7th and Hamilton streets — including the circle around the Soldiers and Sailors monument — and residents could play a major role in its redesign.
The city is set to host two public meetings Thursday, June 29, with Omnes Landscape Architecture representatives to learn what residents want to see in the project.
- Allentown officials want to redesign the intersection at 7th and Hamilton streets
- Two public meetings are scheduled for Thursday
- The project will be funded by revenues form Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone, officials said
Meetings are scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the 7th and Hamilton streets intersection and from 5 to 7 p.m. at the ArtsWalk Pocket Park, 65 N. Church St.
The company has not yet made plans and will start from scratch based on residents’ input, Allentown communications manager Genesis Ortega said.
The redesign project is set to include the entire intersection, the monument and public rights-of-way, Ortega said.
The redesign project would be funded by the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone’s Public Improvement Investment Program.City officials
Allentown officials hope to complete the project’s planning and design phases by the end of this year, Ortega said. That would allow construction to start next summer and finish by the end of 2024, Ortega said.
Funded by the NIZ
The redesign project at 7th and Hamilton streets would be funded by the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone’s Public Improvement Investment Program, officials said.
The NIZ is a special taxing district that allows some Center City Allentown businesses to keep tens of millions of dollars in state and local taxes each year.
NIZ businesses paid $91.4 million last year. The state treasurer puts that money in escrow, and funds are used to pay debt on bonds issued by the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority (ANIZDA) and for dedicated projects.
NIZ businesses still pay taxes to the Allentown School District. State Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton, said earlier this year that the NIZ generated more than $8 million in 2022 for the district.
ANIZDA also uses some of the tax revenues to pay for streetscape upgrades and projects like the redesigned LANTA bus terminal on Sixth Street, the ArtsWalk Hamilton Connector and the proposed redesign at 7th and Hamilton.
Among the many NIZ projects in the planning stages is a proposal for a mixed-use building with up to 16 floors and 300,000 square feet of space at the southwest corner of the 7th and Hamilton streets.
Plans on the ANIZDA website show the building — to be called 1 Center Square — could cost $100 million and would preserve the façade of the Merchants National Bank.
