ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown’s top developer is ready to add “the final piece” of the puzzle in the heart of the city — five years after first pushing forward with the project.
City Center executives on Monday night presented scaled-back plans to revitalize the former Merchants National Bank at the southwest corner of Seventh and Hamilton streets.
Allentown officials in January 2020 approved a proposal to build a 250-foot-tall tower with the old bank at its base.
But the COVID-19 pandemic greatly altered ideas about office space and how it’s used, forcing the developer to alter its plans to build what it said would “be the premier office tower in the region.”
Allentown planning officials granted a two-year extension for the 1 Center Square project in December 2023 after a City Center official detailed struggles to find tenants to fill the 16-story building, which could’ve featured almost 300,000 square feet of space.
Banners on the building Monday offer leases for Class A office space of up to 150,000 square feet.
But a unit that size would be almost twice as big as what the developer now plans for the property.
Contrast in construction
City Center wants to break ground this fall on a project to add a fourth glass-enclosed floor on top of the 1900s-built bank, Robert DiLorenzo, planning and construction director, told Allentown’s Historical Architectural Review Board on Monday.
The 87,000-square-foot building also would be extended south along Seventh Street, according to the plans presented at the meeting.
“We’re really excited to get that corner activated."City Center executive Robert DiLorenzo on plans for the former Merchants National Bank
DiLorenzo noted the Merchant National Bank’s ideal location on “Main and Main” streets in downtown Allentown. Its neighbors at the intersection include the PPL Center and Two City Center.
The developer hopes to secure an “anchor” ground-floor restaurant and is in talks with companies about leasing office space, DiLorenzo said.
“We’re really excited to get that corner activated,” he said. He said the new building will “complement … really well” with a project to overhaul Center Square, one of Allentown’s busiest intersections for foot and vehicle traffic.
The project would preserve and highlight the historic facade of the bank, DiLorenzo said.
HARB Chairman A.J. Jordan said he was “sad to see” City Center is no longer pursuing its initial plans for a large office tower.
But he credited the new project as a “perfect example” of using modern materials and styles to provide “contrast” with and showcase historic buildings.
Several other HARB members voiced support for the proposal and its aesthetics.
DiLorenzo said he expects to present his company’s 1 Center Square proposal this month to Allentown zoning officials and planning officials in July.
Crews could get to work on the project this fall, with City Center eyeing a January 2027 opening, he said.
