ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown distiller is looking to open a new factory in the city, one that could be brewing its first batch as soon as next spring.
The Allentown City Planning Commission on Tuesday granted conditional approval for Russell Fletcher’s plans for his new distilling facility.
Fletcher, owner of Mishka Premium Vodka —Pennsylvania’s first Black-owned distillery — and the Allentown Economic Development Corporation are partnering to redevelop the property at 1932 E. Livingston St.
Their plans call for the demolition of an existing building that was previously used by the A-Treat Bottling facility. That’s due to be replaced by an almost 16,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
Meanwhile, long-proposed plans for a skyscraper at 90 S. 9th St. continue to languish after a new developer asked the Allentown Planning Commission for yet more time to start the project.
Planning officials first approved The Landmark Tower — which is taking on the new moniker, Peregrine Tower — almost a decade ago.
'Fell in love with Allentown'
Fletcher’s distilling journey kicked off almost two decades ago in Staten Island when he started making wine as a hobby.
He leaped into running a distilling business around 2010, working out of a commercial building his mom owned in Lansford.
Fletcher and his family later moved to the Lehigh Valley and “fell in love with Allentown.” He opened Mishka’s main distilling facility on North Gilmore Street in Allentown in 2019 and last month launched This Life Forever Distillery in Erie.
The distiller said he employs about eight people across his business but hopes that number climbs closer to 25 with the new facility, which could open within a year.
Mishka Premium Vodka is distributed in seven states and sold at about 60 liquor stores in Pennsylvania, he said, though he told the planning commission he wants to make his brand nationally known.
“Russell … is an expert at producing a high-quality beverage — he is not a land developer. (And) we don’t make vodka.”Executive Director Scott Unger on the benefits of AEDC's partnership with Mishka
He told LehighValleyNews.com “It’s awesome” to likely soon be opening a bigger location in Allentown.
Mishka is “an award-winning, world-class product” and one of only two Double Gold Award-winning spirit makers in Pennsylvania, Fletcher said.
Scott Unger, executive director of the Allentown Economic Development Corporation, said his organization is working to help Fletcher through the land-development approval process and make sure “he’s set up for the most successful future possible.”
The partnership between the AEDC — which works to bring manufacturing jobs back to Allentown — and Mishka Premium Vodka “makes a lot of sense,” Unger said.
“Russell … is an expert at producing a high-quality beverage — he is not a land developer,” Unger said. “(And) we don’t make vodka.”
The long wait continues
Allentown’s planning commission in 2015 approved a 33-story building at 90 S. 9th St. Developer Bruch Loch and his company, Ascot Circle Realty, planned to fill about 80% of the Landmark Tower with offices.
The building’s bottom two floors were to serve as retail space, while the top five floors would feature apartments, according to those early plans.
Planning officials granted Loch a handful of extensions, the latest coming last summer. But they gave Loch six months instead of two years.
Umran Global Investment requested another extension in January after buying the property from Ascot Circle Realty but commission members rejected said extension because new plans call for 37 floors, which Chair Christian Brown called “substantially different” than the original project.
The new owner’s representatives were scheduled to present their latest plans Tuesday but none showed up to the meeting. The commission tabled the proposal in their absence.
Though planners granted conditional approval eight years ago for a skyscraper, the lot remains empty — something some residents said Tuesday they hoped would continue for years to come.
Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach, who lives near the proposed building, said a 37-story tower does not match the character of her neighborhood — a common requirement for development proposals in the city.
“(Even) if they were to knock down all of our currently standing row homes and build more luxury apartments,” a skyscraper still would not “fit in” with the neighborhood, she said.
Gerlach urged the commission to soon issue a final vote on project to end residents' long-term concerns about a potential skyscraper in their neighborhood.
The property’s new owners are hoping to postpone their presentation to the planning commission until October, officials said.
