Fiber Optics Headquarters To Occupy New 10-Story Building In Allentown

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

York-based United Fiber & Data will occupy a new 10-story building behind the Butz Corporate Center in the 800 block of Hamilton Street in Allentown.

The building will rise behind the existing Butz structures, and have three floors of parking garage and four stories of office space topped by three stories of apartments and condominiums.  It’s a long-planned third phase of the Butz headquarters, located across 9th Street from the PPL tower.

Details are being announced this morning.

From its new Allentown headquarters, United Fiber & Data will run a new 300-mile fiber optics network serving clients from New York to Virginia.  The company will occupy a just-completed Butz building on Hamilton until Butz completes the new structure in spring 2015.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-niz-butz-fiber-optic-20130517,0,5580943.story

Allentown Arena Construction On Schedule, Mayor Is Pleased

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Six years ago Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, his city still smarting from losing the Sands casino to Bethlehem, first suggested that an arena might make a fine consolation prize.

Pawlowski on Wednesday, standing at the city’s $272 million arena complex, surrounded by dust and gravel, hard hats and heavy machines, looked downright satisfied.

With construction in full swing, steel and concrete rising from what was once a block of low-end stores and for a time just a muddy hole at Seventh and Hamilton streets, Pawlowski, media in tow, got his first tour of a project that he has been trying to make a reality for most of his time in office.

“It really is amazing when you think about going from the conceptual stage to something that is physically under construction,” Pawlowski said afterward.  ”I wanted to show the amount of planning that has really gone into this construction process.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-hockey-arena-site-tour-20130424,0,2991685.story

Allentown Developer Plans Tallest Building In Lehigh Valley

The PPL Building (seen here in the distance) is the tallest building in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After decades of spreading out, Allentown could be growing up, its skyline altered by the Lehigh Valley‘s tallest building.

Developer Bruce Loch unveiled plans Wednesday for the 33-story Landmark Tower at Ninth and Walnut streets. The $60-million project would include nearly 200,000 square feet of office, retail and residential space and eclipse the vacant Martin Tower, the former headquarters of Bethlehem Steel and the Valley’s tallest building, by 20 feet.

Loch, an experienced residential builder in the Lehigh Valley with more than $100 million in development under his belt, is making his first foray into this type of project, which he said would be on a lot owned by the Allentown Parking Authority, next to the authority’s garage on Walnut Street.

The property is in the city’s one-of-a-kind Neighborhood Improvement Zone, which allows developers to tap tenants’ state and city taxes, not including property taxes, to finance construction.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-tallest-building-20130327,0,5430141.story

Pawlowski To Run For Third Term As Allentown Mayor

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

His supporters say Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is a visionary; a leader who has ushered unprecedented development into the city with the state-supported Neighborhood Improvement Zone.

His detractors say he’s a man in isolation, unwilling to listen to an angry populace unhappy with his plan to lease one of the city’s most valuable assets.

On Monday, Ed Pawlowski will announce a bid for a third term in office.

And so far, he has no opposition.  Political observers on both sides say that’s unlikely to change.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-mayor-pawlowski-candidate-announcemen-20130113,0,6204569.story

Neuweiler Brewery In Allentown To Get New Life

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Allentown is on FIRE with development!

New York City-based Ruckus Brewing would like to put the beer back in the old Neuweiler Brewery in Allentown.

The company announced Wednesday that it had won the right to try to convert the run-down property into a multipurpose development it would call Brewer’s Hill.

The centerpiece of the roughly $25 million project would be a brewery that would produce Ruckus’ line of microbrews and other craft beers on a contract basis, said Josh Wood, a Lehigh University graduate and co-owner of Ruckus.

“It is a big property,” Wood said. “The overall gist of it is about 50 percent — maybe a little less — we plan to use for brewing purposes or something related to that.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-neuweiler-butz-brewery-20130102,0,6194957.story