Jaindl Properties is taking the lead on one of the largest redevelopment efforts on the Lehigh River. Founded in 2011 by Mark and Zachary Jaindl, the company announced it will serve as the lead developer of The Waterfront, a 29-acre project along the river in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The work is organized under The Waterfront Development Company.

The site carries the city’s industrial history. For decades, it was home to Lehigh Structural Steel, a place built to make steel rather than to welcome people. The plan is to convert that underused riverbank into a mixed-use district that brings new jobs and new homes to the water’s edge, with 12 new buildings and a range of recreational amenities along the urban waterway.

The timing is deliberate. Allentown officials had already designated the Lehigh River waterfront a top redevelopment priority, alongside the new arena in Center City that anchored downtown’s revival. Jaindl Properties is stepping into that momentum, not creating it from nothing. As the company put it at the time, it is looking forward to being part of the city’s revitalization.

The financing is what makes the scale possible. The Waterfront is located within Pennsylvania’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ), a program created in 2012 and administered by the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority (ANIZDA). The NIZ has helped attract more than $1 billion in new investment to downtown Allentown, and it enables a former industrial parcel to deliver Class A space along the river at a competitive cost. The Waterfront is positioned as a flagship of the zone.

The first work is the work the public rarely sees. The Waterfront Development Company will begin design immediately for the full 29-acre campus and prepare for demolition of unusable structures on the site. Before anything new can rise on a century-old steel parcel, the ground has to be made ready.

This announcement set the direction for everything that has followed on the river: offices, homes, dining, and open space sharing a single reclaimed riverbank. The first chapter starts here.

Learn more about the district at the Offices and along the River Walk. Schedule a visit.

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