Lehigh Valley Real Estate

Bethlehem City Council unanimously approved a $12,000 contract with the Center for Public Enterprise of Brooklyn, New York, to help with designing and implementing such a fund in Bethlehem.

Among the free food, candy and raffles was quite a spread of information available, both in English and Spanish, for families related to a major neighborhood redesign in the works.

The Gateway on Fourth, a 120-unit affordable housing project, expected to cost $29 million, just received $16 million in highly competitive tax credits awarded by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency board. It's one of two affordable housing projects out of six total applicants in the Lehigh Valley to receive the credits.

The Lehigh Valley’s position among the top three small rental markets highlights how much pressure local renters are feeling, but that’s just one side of the housing market continuing to squeeze budgets.

Those parties now will be able to call witnesses and make arguments of their own, as is the case with the original appellee, North Whitehall Township. Argument for the appeal is planned to begin at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 17 at Lehigh County Courthouse.

Two Bethlehem property owners await what’s next as developers plan to put up townhomes on adjacent lots. They’re preparing for what they say could be the worst-case scenario: losing their beloved trees and an established quality of life in the neighborhood.

Challenges for would-be homeowners in Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley are even more evident, with housing reflecting a mix of aging stock, rising values and a growing divide between homeowners and renters.

Just five months after officially being in business in their recognizable bright yellow teardrop-shaped trailer, co-owners Melinda Schneck and Josh Elmer are expending Roasties Mobile Cafe into a brick-and-mortar coffee shop. It'll take root where the couple says its heart is: Macungie.

Easton City Councilman Frank Pintabone's workforce housing ordinance passed council on Wednesday, launching a new program to promote affordable residences for those who fall in the middle income bracket.

Lehigh County officials gathered Friday to celebrate the finish of structural steel work on a new building at the county-run Cedarbrook nursing home. Officials initially hoped the building would be open by now.

The Coalition of Manufactured Home Communities of Pennsylvania held a get-together Wednesday to discuss the lot rental price jumps throughout the communities, and tell residents how they are combatting it.

Developers behind a 73-unit condo in Easton secured a land development plan approval on Wednesday, though not without plenty of discussion about parking.

Bethlehem’s Pembroke Choice project is giving residents “the opportunity to plan what the next generation of their neighborhood looks like,” Mayor J. William Reynolds said Saturday.

This time around, developers look to better conceal the addition among neighboring structures, setting it back 28 feet from the original facade instead of a previously proposed 6 feet.

More than a dozen new apartments could be built in Allentown, though six more were rejected Monday night.

Local officials highlighted the project's potential to make a small dent in the Lehigh Valley's deep housing deficit.

A conditional use hearing for a 170-unit apartment complex on Van Buren Road addressed a potential right-of-way issue during Monday's Palmer supervisors meeting, although the hearing has been continued until April.

Officials held a grand opening for 1528 West Apartments on Friday, which is World Down Syndrome Day. Ten of its 49 apartments are reserved for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The almost four-acre property is near the intersection of Easton Avenue and Farmersville Road, across from Blue Grillhouse and just down from Notre Dame High School.

Easton Housing Authority obtained a set of variances that will allow for development of a 45-unit affordable senior housing project and dedicated parking in the West Ward.

Several planning commission members questioned the use of a gate to regulate traffic and suggested developer Manny Makhoul instead extend Turner Street across his property.

Plans call for buildings of 50-plus feet, but they won’t seem that tall to neighbors, according to the developer.

The project, named Emerson Village, calls for the construction of 57 townhomes and 59 single-unit homes on 35 acres at 3626 Rural Road.

On Wednesday, HARB, the recommending body to City Council that weighs proposed changes to the exterior of buildings in Historic Bethlehem, said it wanted to see revised plans for the former 555 Main St. five-and-dime at its next meeting on April 2.