Lehigh Valley Real Estate

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.

On Wednesday, about 60 people were present at Town Hall regarding the project pitched for 312 Hanover St. in West Bethlehem. Many argued the developer was trying to cram too much into too little of a space.

While North Whitehall Township planners took no action on the project, developers offered an update on their active adult residential community plans on Tuesday.

The proposal would be a conditional use within the township’s Rural Residential Zoning District, meaning the applicant has to take part in a public hearing process before township supervisors.

Residents near a planned land development apartment project on Township Line Road have concerns over potential environmental impacts and increased traffic.

No vote was taken Wednesday by the Bethlehem Historic Architectural Review Board on the proposed seven-story, mixed-use building planned for the Historic District.

City and county officials came together on Easton's Ferry Street on Wednesday to celebrate the opening of a four-unit affordable housing building which once served as the Italian Presbyterian Church.

Allentown City Council looks poised to move about $2.25 million in unspent federal funding to other accounts.

Pen Argyl Borough Council provided conditional use approval to a former warehouse a developer intends to turn into an apartment building.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency awarded seven projects in the state with grants from its Community Revitalization Fund Program. Only one project in the Lehigh Valley received money — a remediation project for the Fourth Street Building in Bethlehem.

Once pitched for 27 units, the newest project documents show 24 apartments to be built on site, with 18 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom units ranging from about 600 to 1,700 square feet.

City officials will later hear more on the vision and take a vote on the new $25 million building at 701-719 N. New St. The vote on April 1 pertained to the zoning classification of the land in question, located just a couple of blocks up from the action on Main Street.

Allentown planning officials granted a one-year extension to Cortex Residential as it awaits state funding for its project.

Lower Macungie's Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to buy 44 acres of farmland on Lower Macungie Rd. Township officials previously approved a 30-building, 180-unit apartment complex on the site.

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.