The influx of residents joining the new businesses opening in downtown Allentown is getting into full swing as the city’s new luxury high-rise apartment complex nears completion.
While the STRATA Flats at Four City Center opened in July and began filling up with tenants, the building won’t be fully constructed until the first week in October, said Robert Fox, community manager for the apartments, which are managed by Landmark Communities LLC.
The STRATA Flats are more than 80 percent leased, Fox said.
STRATA has 162 apartments and eight in a smaller building next door, called the STRATA Annex, divided by the ArtsWalk, a pedestrian pathway linking the PPL Center arena and the Renaissance Hotel by Marriott to the arts venues in Allentown.
The project includes studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats.
Highlights include community-wide Wi-Fi, an indoor lounge with a kitchen and pool table, large screen TV, private green courtyard lounge, fitness center, business center, monitored security and rooftop party deck.
All of the apartments are pet-friendly and have a storage room on each floor, Fox said.
“The fourth floor opened today,” he said. “That is pretty close to being full.”
The second and third floors are occupied. Monthly rents are $1,050 to $1,300, he said.
The Annex has eight apartments, all one-bedroom units.
“We just started marketing that two weeks ago; that’s half full,” Fox said.
Rents for the Annex apartments are $1,250 to $1,750.
Four City Center covers 250,000 square feet and cost an estimated $50 million to build, with 100 underground parking spaces. Parking for residents also is available in the Linden Street parking deck.
Owned by City Center Investment Corp., Four City Center is at the corner of Seventh and Linden streets and has many retail sites on the ground floor, most of which have opened.
These retailers include Greenmouth Juice Bar and Cafe, 7th & Sole (shoes), Aquarius (women’s clothing), Sage (women’s clothing) and Shula’s Steakhouse, said Jeff Vaughan, spokesman for City Center Lehigh Valley.
A host of other retailers opened along Hamilton Street on the ground floor of nearby Two City Center, including Moravian Book Shop, which had a soft opening on Tuesday, Vaughan said.
The shop is one of several retailers opening additional locations in center city, including Popmart, RE:find and American Hairlines, all of which are scheduled to open shortly.
