As Lafayette College of Easton looks to expand and stay competitive, its eyes are on downtown office space it wants to occupy by early next year.
At a news conference outside the Alpha Building in downtown Easton on Tuesday afternoon, officials announced the college’s plans to move about 80 employees from the campus to the building. The college will lease three floors of the 9½-story Alpha Building, which, until recently, housed City Hall staff. The college will name its new space Lafayette Downtown.
With City Hall now occupying space in the newly built intermodal center farther down South Third Street, officials see the Alpha Building as the perfect fit for a college looking to increase its downtown presence.
“It’s the hallmark of the partnership that’s been created between the city and Lafayette College,” said Mayor Sal Panto, noting that it dates to 1894. “The city partnership is also a revenue producer. They bring in the best speakers; students bring their families. They shop here, they dine here.”
Officials said the addition of 80 employees to the downtown office building will bring more people to visit businesses and help the local economy.
“We have a wonderful nightlife, but we don’t have a lot of workers,” Panto said.
VM Development of Easton, the owner of the building, will renovate the interior, investing about $1.5 million, said Mark Mulligan, CEO.
“We are doing a lot of upgrades,” he said. “The lobby is going to be completely redone … bathroom upgrades for all the floors.”
The building will not be fully occupied once Lafayette employees move in, and Mulligan said he is also seeking other tenants. USA Architects and EPS Financial will remain, along with a few other tenants, he said.
‘WE ARE RISING TOGETHER’
“This is truly a college town now,” Mulligan said. “The true stamp of approval is when a college comes downtown and uses the services. I’m really proud of the city to see the future. We had no idea the town could grow so quickly and support office development at this level.”
Panto acknowledged that the college and the city’s Greater Easton Development Partnership, an organization that supports economic opportunities in the city, helped Easton pull itself up by the bootstraps and recover from stagnant growth.
Alison Byerly, president of Lafayette College, said the move is an essential part of the college’s planned expansion over the next six to eight years, opening up more space on campus without constructing a lot of new buildings. She described it as the most cost-effective plan to help free up space as the college plans to increase the students it can house and also offer more opportunities for financial aid packages.
The strategic direction is geared toward making the college more affordable, diverse and competitive.
The wonderful trajectory that the city has been on can also be seen at Lafayette, she said.
“We are rising together,” Byerly said. “We thought it was an unbelievable opportunity to have access to first-class office space right in the center of town. We hope they will be active partners in the city of Easton.”
STRONGER CONNECTION
While there has been a long history of the college on the hill feeling isolated from the downtown, this move will bridge that gap, Byerly noted.
The end result could make college staff feel more of a part of the community.
The new tenants in the space will be the information technology services department, the center for community engagement, the communications division and admissions operations employees, she said.
The move should be finished by late January, Byerly said.
Panto acknowledged that a lot of the city’s growth is occurring without economic development incentives.
“We don’t have the NIZ [Neighborhood Improvement Zone], we don’t have the CRIZ [City Revitalization and Improvement Zone], we have a hard work ethic,” Panto said. “It’s just now private dollars.”
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT, PARTNERSHIPS
The college said it has potential projects in the preliminary stages that could take place over the next few years, including the development of mixed-use buildings on College Hill to house students and offer services to the college and community.
Plans feature retail or commercial spaces on the first floor, with student housing above.
The college said it is exploring partnerships with third-party developers.
Also, the college is studying the possibility of creating an outdoor elevator to bring students, staff and visitors from the Williams Arts Campus at the base of College Hill to the top of the hill to the main campus.
