- A developer plans to build a warehouse with more than 1.1 million square feet at the old Mack Trucks assembly plant in south Allentown
- City officials first approved plans for Allentown Commerce Park in October 2016
- Planners granted the developer another two-year extension
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The longtime site of the old Mack Trucks assembly plant could see major action by the end of 2025, almost a decade after city officials first approved a massive warehouse project there.
The Allentown City Planning Commission recently granted two-year extensions for several aspects of the Allentown Commerce Park project in south Allentown.
The developers, operating as Allentown Commerce Park Corp., want to demolish the former factory along Mack Boulevard and replace it with a warehouse that would total more than 1.1 million square feet.
That structure would take the place of the warehouse currently occupied by Canopia By Palram and Empire Moulding & Millwork.
Two much smaller warehouses — covering 154,000 square feet and 54,000 square feet — are also planned for an adjacent property that was part of the initial proposal.
The planning commission granted conditional approval for those plans in October 2016, giving developers two years to finalize them and enter into a land-development agreement with the city.
Allentown officials drafted that agreement exactly one year later, but the developer never proceeded with the project, according to a report by city planning and zoning officials.
Allentown Commerce Park Corp. sought and received a two-year extension in November 2021, more than five years after the project’s initial approval.
Do deadlines matter?
Atty. Joe Fitzpatrick and several representatives with the project on Tuesday were back in front of the planning commission, which approved a second two-year extension.
“I always say when we get these extension requests, the only things that make people get things done in a timely manner is deadlines. If we don't set deadlines, nothing’s ever going to get done.”Anthony Toth, Allentown City Planning Commission member
The commission also approved a two-year extension for the developer’s plans for two smaller warehouses, the first extension for that portion of the project.
Fitzpatrick asked planning officials “to coordinate the extensions, so that this (property) can be developed as a unit, marketed as a unit and improved as a unit.”
The extensions were also important to “maintain (the project’s) status quo” and “its economic viability,” Fitzpatrick said. Denial of the extension could have forced the developer to restart the approval process, he said.
Anthony Toth was the only member of the planning commission who voted against continuing to extend the project’s 2016 approval.
“There’s no effort to delay or to play games with the city."Joe Fitzpatrick, attorney for Allentown Commerce Park Corp.
“I always say when we get these extension requests, the only things that make people get things done in a timely manner is deadlines,” Toth said. “If we don't set deadlines, nothing’s ever going to get done.”
The planning commission in July gave Ascot Circle Realty six months to submit new plans for its 33-story Landmark Tower project.
The commission first approved the proposal in 2015 and has granted the developer four extensions since.
Bruce Loch, president of Ascot Circle Realty, said he now plans to fill about 90% of the skyscraper with housing units. The previously approved plan showed about 80% of the building would be offices.
Plans could change
Allentown Commerce Park Corp. was making progress on the project before the pandemic started in March 2020, Fitzpatrick said. That threw the developer’s “best-laid plans into disarray,” he said.
"In all candor, the world has changed so much since 2016."Joe Fitzpatrick, attorney for Allentown Commerce Park Corp.
The company has also experienced internal management changes, which have sparked a more “aggressive” approach to the project, Fitzpatrick said.
“There’s no effort to delay or to play games with the city,” Fitzpatrick said.
But the attorney did warn the developer's plans for Allentown Commerce Park will "more than likely" change over the next two years.
Developers are considering splitting the 1.1 million-square-foot warehouses into two units.
"The market for a facility that large as a single unit at this location is not great" in 2023, he said.
"In all candor, the world has changed so much since 2016," Fitzpatrick said.
Mack Trucks opened its Allentown headquarters in 1905, when it was still called Mack Brothers Co. The corporation relocated its headquarters to North Carolina in 2010, while its assembly plant moved to Macungie.
