Bethlehem Main Street Streetscape Project Scaled Back, Next Phase To Start In March

Instead of another $2.7 million in upgrades, Bethlehem’s Main Street will be getting a $500,000 overhaul come spring.

Building upon a $532,000 upgrade of the intersection of Main and Market streets, city officials had planned on an extensive $3.2 million streetscape project between Broad and Church streets. But both the city and property owners say a scaled-back $1 million total project is more feasible.

The city had planned to replace all of the street’s sidewalks as it did at Main and Market but will instead just be repairing broken slate and brick on the four blocks, which is Bethlehem’s busiest business thoroughfare.

Hotel Bethlehem managing partner Bruce Haines said he and other Main Street property owners couldn’t afford the higher-priced overhaul. The city is seeking a 50-50 project cost split with property owners.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2015/01/bethlehem_main_street_streetsc_1.html

Tacony Hopes Fresh Face-Lift Lures Flocks Of Folks

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SCOTT DeGIRALOMO, owner of Computer Guy on Torresdale Avenue near Disston, said he’s very happy with the new, huge “Computer Guy” letters that light up in cool blue across the former Tacony post office that now houses his high-tech services business.

“They replaced my hanging disaster of an old sign outside that was about to fall and crush somebody,” DeGiralomo said dryly.

Like Bull’s Eye Dart Supplies next door, Computer Guy is one of 15 businesses along Torresdale Avenue that got a major face-lift, thanks to the Tacony Community Development Corp. and its business corridor manager, Alex Balloon.

“Alex is our general and our cheerleader,” DeGiralomo said, smiling. “I see him marching around here, talking up Tacony’s positives to store owners until he rah-rahs us into being a team.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140519_Tacony_hopes_fresh_face-lift_lures_flocks_of_folks.html#k3dFxEk0DoZZQWY6.99

‘Great Momentum’ Behind Downtown Hazleton Revitalization

Downtown Hazleton, PA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A team that will develop a plan for the future of downtown Hazleton is working on a similar downtown revitalization project in Hershey.

With a $30 million streetscape project nearing completion on Broad Street and a private-public partnership funneling millions into the restoration of the Markle and Trader’s Bank buildings, a project manager and architect who will develop a 10-year blueprint for downtown Hazleton said at a revitalization kickoff reception Thursday that the city has plenty of positives to build upon.

“There’s great momentum and we want to harness that momentum and set a vision,” said Christopher J. Brown, a project manager with Derck & Edson, a firm that specializes in improving downtowns, college campuses and athletic venues.

Brown spoke about plans for the downtown at a revitalization kickoff reception at the Markle hosted by the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress.

Read more: http://standardspeaker.com/news/great-momentum-behind-downtown-revitalization-1.1686744

$60-$70 Million Chestnut Street Residential Development Set To Begin

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In what would transform a bedraggled slice of central Philadelphia, demolition crews are weeks away from dismantling nearly an entire side of the 1100 block of Chestnut Street, part of a $60 million to $70 million redevelopment tapping the soaring apartment market and surging appetites to shop and live east of Broad Street.

Zoning approvals and permits are in place, additional property was acquired as recently as Thursday, and a large section of sidewalk has been closed as lead development partner Brickstone Co. prepares to build a complex of loft-style apartments above towering, three-story retail spaces.

The development will stretch almost the length of the south side of Chestnut between 11th and 12th Streets, Brickstone managing partner John J. Connors said.

Connors would not discuss what tenants are being courted, but the project could include a supermarket if rumors swirling among civic activist circles are true.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140425__60-_70_million_Chestnut_Street_residential_development_set_to_begin.html#oF4zBbpGx4j9dij1.99

Has North Broad Reached A Turning Point?

North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 100 block, looking south from Race Street, with Philadelphia City Hall (1874-1901) in the center. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EVERY WEEKDAY, the 40 members of the Pennsylvania Ballet arrive from all over the region for a 9:30 a.m. class at the Ballet’s new headquarters on North Broad Street.

The leap from the old studios on South Broad, 10 blocks south of City Hall, to what is called Avenue of the Arts North is an important part of what city officials want to see happening on North Broad, seen for years as drab and boring.

The Ballet moved into its new space in January. The building, on the former site of a garage for armored trucks, has an entrance across Wood Street from Roman Catholic High School, and is known as the Louise Reed Center for Dance.

Location was everything, said executive director Michael Scolamiero.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131201_Arts_looking_north.html#4cGWPCsEheK4KydY.99