After years of preparation and more than $20 million in investment, The Waterfront is ready to go vertical. The phrase marks a turning point: the groundwork is done, and buildings can rise.
The work started in 2012. The Waterfront Development Company closed on the site, assembled a team of design professionals, and master-planned the 29-acre riverfront campus along the Lehigh River where a steel mill once stood. Demolition of unusable on-site assets followed, then a multi-year installation of the infrastructure a modern district requires: streets, curbs, underground utilities, and everything else beneath the surface that makes a place work.
The latest approval moves the plan forward. The Allentown Planning Commission granted final approval for the second phase of The Waterfront, which calls for a 461,000-square-foot office building, 37,400 square feet of retail space, and an 8,000-square-foot warehouse between the Tilghman Street Bridge and the American Parkway.
The strategy is to build a district, not a single building. The Waterfront Development Company plans to introduce critical mass early by bringing offices and residences online together, so the place feels like a neighborhood from the start rather than a lone tower waiting for company. To date, developers hold four permit-ready buildings.
This is what readiness looks like. Approvals in hand, infrastructure in the ground, and a master plan cleared to build, The Waterfront stands prepared to rise on the Lehigh River, a flagship of Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) and the more than $1 billion in investment it has drawn downtown.
See what is rising at The Waterfront. Explore the offices and the River Walk. Schedule a visit.
- "The Latest On The Waterfront In Allentown: Leases Signed, Construction Coming, Jaindls Say" | The Morning Call