LOWER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — The planned Lehigh Valley Town Center is stuck in traffic.
The massive 64-acre, mixed-use land development project of the Jaindl Land Co. approved for Lower Macungie Township can't fully speed ahead until roadway issues are resolved with PennDOT near the site at 361 Schantz Road and 4511 Cedarbrook Road.
“We don’t have any issues with PennDOT,” Jake Jaindl said Wednesday. “There are just some things we need to iron out.
“We’re still finalizing the access issues and the HOPs [Highway Occupancy Permits] with PennDOT, which has been a great collaborative partner with us. We’re looking for a great solution to mitigate the traffic issues.”
Luke Jaindl and his brother Adam discussed the Town Center project and other company related topics during a taping of “Business Matters,” a 30-minute program hosted by Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce President Tony Iannelli, at WFMZ-TV studios.
'Best food, beverage, entertainment'
Luke Jaindl said Wednesday that driveway and roadway configurations near the project site are among the issues delaying the project.
Project representatives have said the main entrance to the facilities, which are near Route 222 and Interstate 78, likely will be placed on Cedarbrook Road.
“We looked at it and could’ve put a warehouse there. But we’re looking to create the best food, best beverage and best entertainment venue there.”Luke Jaindl
The Town Center will include 550 apartment units across four six-story buildings, a 100-unit hotel and 70,000 square feet of office space.
Also, 65,000 square feet of medical office space, a 12,500-square-foot grocery store, 170,000 square feet of retail space, a 20,000-square-foot restaurant, a parking garage and a Topgolf facility.
Lower Macungie supervisors gave the project approval in August 2023, with groundbreaking eyed for early 2024.
Luke Jaindl said conversations with residents and township officials persuaded his company to develop the land as now planned.
“We looked at it and could’ve put a warehouse there,” he said. “But we’re looking to create the best food, best beverage and best entertainment venue there.”
Talking turkey
The “Business Matters” program featuring the Jaindls will be broadcast on WFMZ-69 at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. — 11 days before Thanksgiving.
No wonder, then, that a good portion of the conversation centered on the Jaindl Co.’s half-century-long turkey business that provides turkeys to grocery outlets throughout the country.
“We have big shoes to fill, building on our grandfather’s legacy. We don’t take it lightly.”Luke Jaindl, talking about Fred Jaindl
“This is crunch time for us now,” Adam Jaindl said. “We process 14,000 turkeys a day — 32 per minute — between 6 pounds and 32 pounds.”
Added Luke Jaindl: “This Thanksgiving, we will deliver about 600,000 turkeys.”
Among the turkeys will be two that will be delivered to The White House for Thanksgiving dinner, as has been the tradition since 1959.
All Jaindl turkeys, they said, are fed farm-fresh feed from grains like corn and soybean, which are grown on 14,000 acres of the family’s prime farmland.
“We have big shoes to fill, building on our grandfather’s legacy,” Luke Jaindl said of Fred Jaindl, who with his father, John, began growing turkeys on their Allentown farm in 1933.
“We don’t take it lightly.”
