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Former Louie’s Restaurant in Allentown will soon be a used car dealership.

The former Louie’s Restaurant off Lehigh Street in Allentown has been purchased by a used car dealer. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

 

From cuisine to cars — the former Louie’s restaurant off Lehigh Street in Allentown has been purchased by a company that sells used cars.

The once popular Italian restaurant, owned by Louie Belletieri, had been located in the 4,100-square-foot space at 2071 SW 31st St. in Allentown for several years after moving from a smaller downtown location where it had been for decades. Belletieri, who did not own the building, closed the restaurant late last year after plans to move to a space in Emmaus fell through.

Before Louie’s a number of restaurants operated in the space. While the property has always served as a home to restaurants, the switch to an auto dealership isn’t out of character with the area. The buyer, Flexible Auto Mall, already has a used-car dealership nearby at 3030 Lehigh St. It provides sales, service and bad credit auto loans.

There are a number of used and new car dealerships in the immediate area, which is sometimes referred to as the Lehigh Street Auto Mile.

The restaurant building will be renovated into a service facility and to expand sales. The property has more than 70 parking spaces for the car lot according to NAI Summit, which represented the owner of the building, LEAD 112 LLC in the sale.

A man answering the phone at Flexible Auto Mall could not say when the work would begin.

NAI Summit names senior property manager, senior property accountant, and COO

South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County-based NAI Summit named Jena Young senior property manager. She specializes in property and operations management, with a portfolio of commercial office buildings, medical offices and flex buildings. She has a degree in criminal justice. Nancy Worby was named chief operations officer. She will provide operational and technical support and oversee employee relations. She was office manager. Janie D’Aurora was named senior property accountant. She will handle accounting for her commercial property portfolio of office and industrial buildings and retail shopping centers. She will produce comprehensive financial reports, prepare common area maintenance reconciliations and collaborate with property managers to create property budgets. 

Fleet management company Fleetrock moves, expands

Fleetrock has moved to 1900 Am Drive in Quakertown. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

 

A fleet management company that was founded in Coopersburg in 2017 has moved into a new office at 1900 Am Drive in Quakertown to accommodate the growth it is experiencing.

Fleetrock, which currently has 20 employees, will have room for up to 65 staffers with the new space.

“We are experiencing tremendous growth,” said Steven Siderias, director of operations for the company.

Fleetrock provides fleet management software for companies to manage their own fleet, but Siderias said their growth is in offering outsourced, full-service fleet management.

By working with a large number of company fleets across the country, he said Fleetrock has the ability to manage repairs, order parts and negotiate contracts with service providers that a company might not have the size to handle, or which is taking up too much administrative time.

“Right now companies are looking to save money anyway they can, and we can help with that,” he said

NAI Summit’s Mike Adams and Jay Haines represented the landlord and Sarah Finney-Miller represented Fleetrock in the multi-year lease of the new Class A office space.

Special Olympics of PA opens new regional office

Special Olympics of PA opened a regional office at 2158 Avenue C in Bethlehem. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

Special Olympics of PA recently moved into a newly formed regional office in Bethlehem.

The nonprofit signed a multi-year lease for an office at 2158 Avenue C. NAI Summit’s Sarah Finney-Miller represented the organization in the lease. The organization is headquartered in Norristown.

The new office will serve six counties including Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Carbon, Monroe and Schuylkill.

According to a press release, the office is part of the SOPA’s statewide reorganization aimed at helping local programs work together to more and better opportunities for its athletes.

The programs in the Greater Lehigh Valley & Pocono Region currently has 3,500 participating athletes and 1,000 volunteers participating in 20 sports competitions throughout the year.

IT firm becomes anchor tenant at TechVentures

TechVentures in Bethlehem PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

TechVentures in Bethlehem has a new anchor tenant. Converged Communications, which is doing business as Convergent, moved into the west wing in TechVenture’s most recent expansion space.

Convergent is an IT solutions and managed service provider. It had previously been located in Hanover Township, Northampton County.

While Convergent is a tenant, it is not an incubator client of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania, which operates the center. The company is paying full-market rent.

Laura Eppler, chief marketing officer for BFTPNEP, said with the tech-friendly amenities of the building, the space served as a good spot for the company’s headquarters.

“Convergent is an innovative IT and managed service provider that is Ben Franklin TechVentures’ newest anchor tenant,” Eppler said. “As a technology-based firm, they contribute to and benefit from the tech ecosystem here at the incubator. And, as an anchor tenant paying full rent, they help us provide below-market rates to our early-stage firm clients.”

TechVentures is also located in the Keystone Innovation Zone allowing extra benefits for the tenant.

Chris Jones, president and CEO of Convergent said that the space “checked all of the boxes” on what the company needed as far as infrastructure and technology. Coming in as a full-rate tenant helped the company support the Ben Franklin organization, which he supports.

“It’s a wonderful service they provide,” Jones said.

Because this was a leasing arrangement, the marketing of the space and the agreement were handled by Mike Adams of NAI Summit in South Whitehall Township.

TechVentures is at 116 Research Drive in Bethlehem.

Convergent also has a location in Wyomissing. It has 28 employees.

Upscale barbershop to open in Whitehall Township

An upscale barbershop is opening in Whitehall Township. (Submitted) –

Vintage Barbershop, which will offer an upscale environment for men’s hair and grooming services, will open its first location in the Lehigh Valley in Whitehall Township.

NAI Summit’s Jay Haines recently represented the owner of MacArthur Convenience Center and the new tenant, Aziz Atiyeh, in the multi-year lease transaction at 3690 Lehigh St.

Atiyeh said he is completing the inspection of the space and should be ready to open next week.

“I’ve been a Whitehall resident for about 20 years now, that location is very excellent, there’s a lot of foot traffic,” Atiyeh said.

Becoming a barber was originally not in Atiyeh’s plans but after gaining compliments from friends on his barber skills, he began working with a relative in the barber business about six years ago.

“I enjoy making people feel better about themselves,” he said. “I decided to go out on my own and see what I can do.”

Down the road, he would like to teach barbering, but for now he plans to focus on operating his new shop.

“I’m going for more of an upscale vintage theme, the 1950s,” Atiyeh said. “I’m trying to bring class back to the Whitehall area.”

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