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Bethlehem apartment building sells for $7.05M

A property built in 1886 in the downtown Bethlehem rental market recently sold for $7,050,000.

This property, built in 1886, once served as a silk mill. Today, it’s an apartment building in Bethlehem that recently sold for $7.05 million. (Submitted) –

Eastwood Apartments LLC bought the building at 238 Goepp St. from 4220 Broadway LLC, according to Northampton County property records.

The 61-unit building has four stories built out of a former silk mill.

The Kislak Co., a real estate firm based in Woodbridge, N.J., marketed the property and finalized the sale, according to a news release.

In 2010, the owner renovated the building and completed additional improvements in 2015 through 2017, which included replacing windows and interior fixtures.

The building includes a mix of studios, and one, two, three and four-bedroom units. Occupancy at the sale was at 100 percent.

Matt Wolf, vice president of Kislak, secured the buyer in the transaction. Robert Holland, president of Kislak, and Justin Lupo, vice president, represented the seller.

 

 

Lafayette College opens new $75M Rockwell Center

As the fall semester begins, Lafayette College in Easton officially opens its new $75 million Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center on Monday.

Lafayette College opened its $75 million Rockwell Integrated Science Center in time for the fall semester. (Submitted) –

The 103,000-square-foot-project aims to integrate critical skills in science, technology, engineering and math while bringing together disciplines in biology, computer science, environmental science and neuroscience.
The college hopes the increased focus on collaboration and diversity will bring students enhanced learning opportunities to build skills that employers want.

Faculty have moved into the center and the college will have a formal dedication in September, said Alison Byerly, president of Lafayette College.

“This is really going to be a signature academic building for the college,” Byerly said. “The teaching spaces are designed for lots of flexibility. It shows our commitment to the future at Lafayette.”
The college connected the center to the adjacent Acopian Engineering Center on Anderson Courtyard and included its Dyer Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the building. The design aims to bring together students, faculty and external partners to develop solutions to real-world problems. A large multi-use area anchored by a flexible maker space serves as the new headquarters for the Dyer Center.
Additionally, the Integrated Sciences Center includes a new Center for Inclusive STEM Education, with the goal of addressing the need to recruit more women and underrepresented minorities to the field.

The connection between engineering and the sciences is very visible with the building, Byerly added.

“The spaces encourage collaboration and reflect the fact that the way we teach science here is very hands-on,” she said.

Overall, the center should help build skills useful in a job setting, she added.

“It will certainly help as we are in our growth mode,” Byerly said.

The center should help the college boost admissions, she said.

Every other year, the college has added about 50 new students. For this school year, the college admitted 701 students and 20 transfers, which is up from 635 students several years ago.
Lafayette College named the center after S. Kent Rockwell, a 1966 graduate and benefactor of the 192-year-old college.
Boston-based architectural firm Payette designed the project. Turner Construction of Philadelphia is the construction firm.

Construction began in 2017.

Developer buys land for new industrial property off I-78

Nevada-based Dermody Properties said it is developing nearly 30 acres in Berks County, which will be home to LogistiCenter at Midway South, a new industrial property at Exit 16 off Interstate 78.

Dermody Properties is developing this industrial property off Interstate 78 in Bethel Township, Berks County. (Submitted) –

The private equity real estate investment, development and management company bought 9024 Old Route 22 in Bethel Township from The Bethel Group for $946,141, according to Berks County property records.

Construction is underway on the 304,000-square-foot facility, which will have connections to Interstate-81, Interstate-476 and The Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Gene Preston, partner of Dermody Properties in Morristown, N.J., said construction should finish by the end of the year.

Blue Rock Construction of Upper Macungie Township is the general contractor building the site. Preston said he does not have any tenants yet and it’s being built on spec. The property is suited for manufacturing, warehouse/distribution and ecommerce companies.

He declined to disclose the estimated construction cost.

The company also developed the nearby LogistiCenter at Midway in Bethel Township, a more than 1 million square-foot-warehouse at Exit 16.

“We do not have any more land that we own out there,” Preston said.

Overall, he sees opportunities for industrial land getting scarcer.

“Land is getting tighter,” Preston said. “There’s still some land as you go west. In Lehigh Valley proper, there’s certainly not a lot of land zoned for industrial.”

In addition, the Midway South property has proximity to a four-way interchange along I-78, he said.

Representing the project for leasing are Gerry Blinebury, executive managing director, Adam Campbell, executive managing director, and Jeff Williams, senior director, all of Cushman & Wakefield.

Berks Park 78 is another industrial complex nearby that includes corporate tenants Samsung, Dollar General and PetSmart.

 

 

 

Developer transforming former Bath borough building into multifamily space

A developer is renovating the former Bath municipal building into apartments.

A developer is transforming the former Bath municipal building into apartments. (Submitted) –

GeorgeAnn Custom Homes of Moore Township bought the building at 215 E. Main St. from the borough for $403,000.

Steve Wilson, associate advisor at SVN Realty in South Whitehall Township, said he represented the seller in the transaction. Jason Kocsis of Coldwell Banker Heritage Real Estate in Bethlehem Township represented the buyer.

“They are going to retain the historical features of the building,” Wilson said, referring to the developer’s plan for the apartments. “The buyer has begun removing items from the interior.”

The property sold for 7.5 percent above the list price and the developer will convert the 16,000-square-foot building into 12 apartments on three floors, he said.

“That property had caught the eye of developers for the past few years,” Wilson said.

Built in the early 1900’s the building once served as a school and most recently housed the borough’s offices and a museum.

The borough built a new municipal building at 121 S. Walnut St., which opened in 2018.

Cityline renovates building for new day care center

An Allentown construction firm has renovated a building it owns into a new day care.

Cityline Construction recently renovated this building into a new day care off Hamilton Boulevard in Upper Macungie Township. (Submitted) –

The Parkland Academy Early Learning Center is reopening as a Get Set Learning Center in Upper Macungie Township.

Cityline Construction of Allentown has renovated the 3,000 square-foot-building, said Tom Williams Jr., real estate director for Cityline. The building is at 7621 Hamilton Blvd.

The hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the center should be open by the end of the month, said Zady Pineda, owner.

The center provides an early childhood education experience for children ages six weeks to pre-teen. It also provides infant/toddler care to pre-k education, before and after school care, and school transportation as needed, as well as a summer camp program and nutritious meals, she said.

Homebuilder sees potential growth in Bucks County with $12M project

One Lehigh Valley homebuilder sees potential growth in Bucks County where is starting construction of a $12 million residential project.

Kay Builders has begun framing houses for its latest project, 38 single-family homes in Richland Township near Quakertown. (Submitted) –

Kay Builders, based in Lower Macungie Township, is building The Fields at Creek View, a residential community of 38 single-family homes in Richland Township near Route 309.

Rick Koze, president and owner of Kay Builders, said the company has started to look south because he sees opportunity there.

“There has been a lot of building in that area over the past 10 years,” Koze said.

St. Luke’s University Health Network is building a new hospital in nearby Milford Township, which should open by the end of the year. In addition, Caracor is developing Village at LifeQuest, a massive mixed-use project near the hospital.

With a large public market underway in nearby Quakertown and more businesses moving into the borough, the surrounding area of Upper Bucks is poised to see considerable opportunities for growth.

Koze said the site on Trumbauersville Road where Creek View is going up has already attracted residents looking to move north from the Philadelphia area. They are looking to stay within a reasonable commuting distance to the Philly/Lansdale area without moving into the valley.

The homes will be on 10,000-square-foot-lots, with houses sized in the 2,500 to 3,100-square-foot-range and with prices starting at $370,000, he said.

He said homes priced at about $400,000 are considered affordable housing for that area, he added.

Koze said he bought the property about a year ago and will dedicate about 15 acres of the site to the township as open space. In addition, the developer will build walking paths that connect to existing paths.

He plans to start delivering finished homes in December and has workers framing five houses now. He plans to complete the entire project by next year.

So far, the company has sold 16 homes, he added.

Sewer capacity is one downside to building in that area, he added.

“There might need to be some upgrades. That is the only impediment to growth there.”

Schlouch Inc., an excavating company in Blandon, is preparing the site for the community.

 

Inventory continues sharp decline as housing prices rise

For the Lehigh Valley housing market, inventory continues to drop as housing prices rise to record highs.

Home prices keep rising in the Lehigh Valley as inventory takes a sharp decline. – (Submitted)

The Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors reported that new listings decreased 10.3 percent in July to 1,074 as compared to July 2018.

Over the same period, pending sales were up 7.8 percent to 899 while inventory levels shrank 17.8 percent to 1,757 units. In addition, the average sales price increased 6.4 percent from $232,650 to $247,526.

The median sales price increased 5.7 percent to $222,000, toppling June’s $216,500, which had been the highest ever recorded by GLVR.

“The sellers are feeling good,” said Carl Billera, president of GLVR.

Homes for sale in July spent an average of 27 days on the market, down 6.9 percent from the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the months’ supply of inventory was down 16.7 percent to 2.5 months.

The falling supply of homes for sale is driving up prices, Billera said.

Low mortgage interest rates have helped keep homes affordable, he said. But, he added: “If the prices keep going up, it’s going to have an effect at some point.”

Interest rates, however, may be moving down.

In July, The Federal Reserve reduced the benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to about 2.25 percent, marking the first reduction in more than a decade, the report said.

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