Developer takes first step toward building 180-unit apartment complex on Allentown’s East Side

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown developer is working to open a large apartment complex on an East Side property where he used to play as a kid.

Manny Makhoul on Monday presented the Allentown Zoning Hearing Board with his plans to build 180 housing units at 712-736 E. Turner St. in the Rittersville neighborhood.

• A developer and Allentown native is planning a four-building, 180-unit apartment complex for the city’s East Side 
• Manny Makhoul told Allentown zoners he played at the property when he was young 
• Officials on Monday granted the project a steep-slope variance, the first step in a long approval process

Makhoul bought the property last week, and hopes to put four 45-unit buildings on the site. The property is at the edge of a wooded area that stretches several blocks.

The developer was seeking relief Monday from zoning ordinances that regulate building on steep slopes.

Allentown zoners unanimously approved a variance after Joe Rentko of Coplay-based Black Forest Engineering showed a previous map inaccurately depicted numerous steep slopes, saying the property has mostly “gentle, rolling hills.”

“I’ve seen a lot worse sites developed,” he told officials.

Board member Alan Salinger said he immediately identified the site as a potential place for redevelopment in the 1980s, when he was first hired to work for the city, but it has sat vacant for decades.

The large, undeveloped property is one of few left in the city that are suitable for multifamily units, Makhoul said.

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Makhoul was born and raised on Allentown’s East Side, and he’s lived there for most of his life. He said he often played basketball at his aunt’s house — which neighbored the site of the proposed complex — when he was young.

Makhoul said it’s “awesome” to be planning a large housing development for a property he played on as a child.

The developer said he is planning to “go with a more high-end product” for the East Side development, with the market-rate apartments to have “really nice” features.

“It’s going to be a beautiful place to be when it’s done,” Makhoul said.

He said he hopes the project can complete the land-development process within a year.

“But it’s all in the hands of the engineers,” Makhoul said, as well as the numerous officials who have to approve the project before construction crews can break ground.

Allentown resident Tanya Suarez, who said she’s rented from Makhoul for more than a decade, told zoners she supports the proposed development.

Suarez said she lives close to the property and thinks an apartment complex would be “great” for the neighborhood.