This is an artist’s rendering of Yourway’s expanded headquarters. SUBMITTED –
Yourway, an integrated premium courier and clinical packager in the clinical trials supply chain market, is expanding its controlled ambient capabilities in Allentown.
This expansion adds about 100,000 square feet to Yourway’s existing storage capabilities at its Allentown headquarters, 6681 Snowdrift Road.
The new location is close to Yourway’s Global Headquarters and main storage facility, which is located close to key airports, offering global access to several domestic and international cities.
The expansion will extend Yourway’s temperature-controlled storage capacity, addressing the growing need for temperature-controlled storage, clinical packaging, and distribution services for clinical trials involving investigational products, biologics, cell and gene therapies, and other advanced modalities, according to the company.
The new facility adds space for 5,000 pallets at ambient temperature. Yourway has completed mapping, validation, and full GMP qualification of the warehouse space, the company said.
An expanded complex is being constructed at Yourway’s Global Headquarters, including both an extension of the main building, which is completed and has added an additional 1,000 pallets of 2–8 °C storage, and new buildings on the Allentown campus.
When complete, the expansion will effectively double the primary and secondary packaging, storage, and distribution capabilities of the current facility.
“Yourway likes to stay ahead of the curve and have excess capacity available before customers need it,” said Gulam Jaffer, founder and president of Yourway. “This is an example of serving that need.”
Aerial view of Riverside Business Center. PHOTO/PROVIDED –
Riverside Business Center, Whitehall, has been sold for $34.65 million.
1788/Riverside Business Center LLC sold the complex, a 423,900-square-foot, single story light industrial building to Buligo Capital Partners, an international investment firm, for $34.65 million.
1788/Riverside Business Center, an affiliate of 1788 Holdings LLC, a Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate investment company, acquired the property, located at 1139 Lehigh Avenue, in 2018 for $11.65 million and increased the occupancy of the warehouse portion from 87% to its current 100% during its four-year hold period, the company said in a press release.
Michael Hines of CBRE’s Radnor/Philadelphia office represented the seller in this transaction.
“We were initially attracted to Riverside Business Center based on the unique opportunity to acquire a high-quality Class B light industrial property that was substantially leased with in-place rents significantly below market, as well as the compelling opportunity to build significant value with a strategic capital investment program, aggressive leasing effort and cost-efficient property management strategy,” said Larry Goodwin, principal, 1788 Holdings.
“The property contained every fundamental necessary to achieve this objective, led by an irreplaceable location, a strong tenant base and the extreme acceleration in demand for industrial, light manufacturing and warehouse space throughout the Lehigh Valley corridor,” he said.
Constructed in 1910, Riverside Business Center has been improved and renovated on numerous occasions, including the investment of more than $9 million by the previous owner in 2006 to convert the property from a single-user manufacturing facility into a multi-tenanted warehouse and light manufacturing facility, the press release said.
The conversion included the installation of 31 dock doors and 23 drive-in doors, the installment of modernized HVAC and lighting and plumbing systems, substantial improvement to all tenant suites, a complete exterior brick and concrete makeover and parking lot upgrades.
Abutting the Lehigh River, the center is located adjacent to US Route 22 with access to Interstate 78 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Lehigh Valley International Airport is less than three miles from the site. It is within a one-day truck drive to approximately one-third of all consumers in the United States, the release said.
A Philadelphia-based real estate company that’s trying to shake up the homebuying industry is expanding its presence in the Lehigh Valley.
Houwzer, which was founded in 2015, is the first certified B Corp. company in the real estate industry, and its goal is to take some of the hassle out of buying and selling a home by offering most all of the services someone would need to buy or sell a home and without the pressure of commissioned sales.
Mike Maher, founder of Houwzer, said with the current real estate market, where there are higher prices and lower inventory, having a system that smooths over the gaps in the real estate process is something he thinks is helpful.
The first thing that is different about the firm is that its sellers are given salaries instead of a commission.
“We just didn’t believe with the current technology out there that it costs 6% to sell a home,” Maher said.
Instead, Houwzer charges a $5,000 flat fee to cover the listing and marketing of the property.
“It’s not a discount,” he explained. “It’s just what we think is a fair price.”
There is then a 2% commission to be paid by the buyer.
Houwzer also has a mortgage brokerage that works with about a dozen lenders. The mortgage brokers are also salaried instead of on commission, so they can make decisions based on what product is best for the borrower, rather than what kind of commission they receive.
Houwzer also offers title services, with plans to offer homeowners insurance in the future.
Larry Lantz –
“It helps in that if you’re the buyer or the seller everything is in one house,” said Larry Lantz, one of the two Realtors who are now working specifically in the Greater Lehigh Valley region. “You only have to give your information once and Houwzer will search around for the best deal for you. It’s just much more convenient for the buyer.”
Prior to joining Houwzer, Lantz was a Realtor in the Lehigh Valley for 11 years. He said he was attracted to the concept of salaried versus commissioned sales and liked the whole culture the company offered.
“I’m not pushing someone to buy a home at a higher price so I can get a higher commission,” he said.
Maher said he was looking at all of the stakeholders in the real estate process when he was developing Houwzer. He wanted consumers to have price transparency and know where their money was going and for agents to not have to worry about putting food on the table if they don’t sell houses.
He noted that most new real estate agents – about 70% — don’t make it past their first year in the business with as many as 90% not lasting past two years. He said he felt that was a business model that had to change to modernize the industry.
“This streamlines the transaction,” said.
And while the company is looking to grow nationally, Maher said he is particularly excited about the company’s growth into the Lehigh Valley because of its proximity to the Philadelphia region where Houwzer is headquartered.
“We’re really excited about the Lehigh Valley and the opportunity to grow our agent footprint,” he said.
The housing inventory shortage is far from over, but the number of homes listed for sale in the Lehigh Valley is on the rise.
Justin Porembo, CEO of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors PHOTO/PROVIDED –
In February, new listings in Lehigh and Northampton counties increased 18.7% from the year before, jumping to 634, according to the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors trade association.
And pending sales totaled 579, up 23.2% from February 2021.
With inventory at historic lows, buyers are still having a difficult time finding a house, Justin Porembo, CEO of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors, said in a release. A silver lining, however, “is we’re leaving the winter lull, and even though inventory will still be tight, the lead up to the spring market always brings new opportunities and new listings.”
Howard Schaeffer, 2022 president of the association, said people who had been on the fence about selling their homes are now moving ahead.
He recently listed two such properties in one day, he said.
Schaeffer said he’s seeing more foreclosures, too, and that adds housing inventory as well, as those properties come on the market.
There are still a plethora of buyers, he said, but affordability isn’t what it was last year as home prices and interest rates climb.
The median sales price in February rose 16% from 12 months ago, to $264,000.
Schaeffer said the landscape is going to continue to change, with even more interest rate hikes in the cards, so buyers should act quickly.
Here are some more highlights from the February report for Lehigh and Northampton counties:
Closed sales fell 4.6%, to 418.
The percentage of list price received was 101.5%, so houses continued to sell for above asking price.
Homes sold, on average, in 24 days.
Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors also covers less populous, more rural Carbon County. In February, the median sales price there rose to $221,000. And it took an average of 37 days for a listing to sell, about the same as a year ago.
This iconic building, formerly home to an ice cream shop and pharmacy, will be the headquarters of Morganelli Properties PHOTO/PROVIDED –
Morganelli Properties has purchased the iconic former ice cream shop and pharmacy building across from Liberty High School at 1124 Linden Street, Bethlehem, for its new headquarters.
The locally owned real estate company plans to renovate the building and open its new headquarters by summer.
Jeff Barber of Lehigh Financial Group LLC helped brother/owners John and Chris Morganelli obtain an SBA loan to purchase the property for $820,000 and complete the renovations. The deal closed at the end of February.
Morganelli Properties is currently located at 1057 Main Street in Hellertown in the space it rented when the firm opened four years ago.
“We are super excited about this move, said Chris Morganelli, vice president. “Our new headquarters are going to be state-of-the-art, really tasteful and classy.”
Morganelli and his brother John, who is president of the firm, grew up in Bethlehem and would go on family outings to the ice cream shop, Nuts About Ice Cream, which recently closed after 33 years in business.
Lucy Lennon of Morganelli Properties was the listing agent for the 7,500-plus square-foot building that has two rental units on the second and third floors and that will remain. Paul Harak of Holzinger, Harak & Scomillio provided the legal work.
Heather McFadden is the broker of record and an owner of the firm. She, too, said she is excited to move to an “iconic building” in such a “prime location.”
“We plan to hold a grand opening and show the public what we’ve done when it is ready,” Chris Morganelli said. “We are expecting the renovations to take two to three months and they are starting now.” Renovations are planned for both inside and out.
He said that Morganelli Properties’ buying the building makes a statement to the community: “We are here and not going anywhere.”
11 East Main Street, Kutztown, home to students, has been purchased for $1.55 million. Photo courtesy of LFG –
A building in downtown Kutztown with student housing and commercial space has been purchased by investors for more than $1.5 million.
Todd Silance of Silance Investments in Breinigsville and Scott Check Jr. of True North Properties in West Chester, and three other investors have purchased the mixed-use 26,000-plus square-foot property at 11 East Main Street for $1,55 million.
The building currently has 30 units and storefront shops.
Jeff Barber of Lehigh Financial Group LLC in Allentown arranged the financing for the purchase and renovations that are planned. The sale was completed in February and work is slated to begin in May and be completed for student occupation in the fall.
“We plan to upgrade the units and keep them as student housing,” Silance said.
Some exterior renovations are planned but the businesses there now will remain, Silance said. The biggest change is the addition of a commercial laundry where there are now a few washers and dryers that students can use. The commercial self-service laundry will be open to the public, Silance said.
Silance and Check have partnered on other real estate properties in Kutztown and elsewhere. They heard of this property’s availability through word of mouth and were attracted to the opportunity, they said.
“We liked the market. We liked the student housing in Kutztown, and we the liked the mixed-use storefronts that this building had,” Silance said. “It was an ideal property for us and making it a bit nicer was appealing.”
Silance said Barber made the deal “seamless and helped bring it to a close quickly. It was great working with him.” The group of investors was represented by David Ribardo and Zori Croissette of Keller Williams Real Estate of Allentown.
A Bethesda-based real estate firm and its partner have bought a 760,000-square-foot retail center in the Greater Philadelphia region for $161.75 million, the companies announced Friday.
Finmarc Management, Inc. partnered with New York-based investment and operating firm KPR Centers on the acquisition.
Providence Town Center, which is in Collegeville, a town northwest of Philadelphia, first opened in 2009 and features 11 anchor tenants, led by a Wegmans Food Markets. The center has 70 tenants, including retail, dining, medical and more. The center is on 82 acres of land at 100 Town Center.
“The new ownership team has plans for improvements to the center to drive a higher velocity of customer traffic to the already busy Town Center,” Finmarc Principal and Co-Founder David Fink said in a news release. “This strategy and preliminary activity have already garnered interest from additional national and regional tenants looking to establish a presence at Providence Town Center.”
The shopping center is well-positioned for future success, the companies said, with the surrounding communities having a growing population of just under 125,000. Nearby residential communities have expanded by more than 42% in the past two decades, and a 700-unit apartment project is planned.
The shopping center is also adjacent to Route 422, which almost 65,000 vehicles travel daily, and Route 29, which about 20,000 vehicles travel daily.
“Providence Town Center in an institutional-quality regional shopping center and, with more than a dozen high-performing anchor tenants including Wegmans Food Markets, is among the dominant retail venues in the greater Philadelphia trade area,” Fink said. “The surrounding demographics led by an ever-growing residential population, together with the presence of major employers and employment centers, provide us with tremendous confidence about the asset’s long-term performance.”
This follows another Philadelphia-area transition by the two companies; late last year, Finmarc and KPR sold Red Lion Plaza, a shopping center at 9950 Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia for $56.45 million that had been owned by a joint venture of the two companies since 2013. The identity of the buyers was not disclosed.
The firm has also recently broken into the North Carolina market through the $58 million acquisition of a 383,000-square-foot retail center in Raleigh.
Colliers Logistics & Transportation for Eastern Pennsylvania leased more than 10 million square-feet of big box space last year.
Mark Chubb, PHOTO/PROVIDED –
The team of Mark Chubb, Michael Zerbe and Summer Coulter also had several marquee development transactions, the team said in a press release.
The region as a whole had a very strong year in terms of leasing activity, with 34.3 million square feet of overall occupier activity, driving the vacancy rate down dramatically to 2.8% at year-end 2021.
Highlights of their activity include:
Lehigh Valley Trade Center II, 526,662 square-feet to Clarion Partners & Trammell Crow
Briarwood Golf Course, York, 1,080,308 square-feet, to Northpoint Development
Northpoint Development, Hazelton, 2,000,000 square-feet, to undisclosed company
“2021 was an incredible year for the Eastern Pa. marketplace with regionwide overall asking rates increasing 16.3% over the course of the year, and land values more than doubling in many submarkets. As demand remains robust, we expect the momentum to continue into 2022,” said Chubb.
The Pinnacle Building at 65 E. Elizabeth Ave., Bethlehem converted its top floors from offices to apartments several years ago. The building is currently undergoing renovations. –
In the nearly two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, much has changed in commercial real estate with the lines between home and office becoming blurred.
Many companies are downsizing or rightsizing their office space, or going entirely remote, leading to many vacancies in office buildings.
At the same time, the Lehigh Valley apartment rental market has skyrocketed as more people look to move into smaller communities, like those found in this area, as compared to larger urban areas like New York or Philadelphia.
The switch to a remote workspace has allowed much of this migration to happen as people find they no longer have to live near their employer.
But since these potential renters will be working from the apartments they are moving into, apartment property owners need to be mindful of the new needs that are arising.
Larken Associates has two properties in Bethlehem that highlight how real estate managers have had to get creative to meet the changing dynamic.
The Pinnacle Building at 65 E. Elizabeth Ave. Is one example of how the industry has changed.
Several years ago, before the pandemic and before Larken owned the building, the 10-story property was drastically renovated, turning the top six floors from office space into apartments.
Jess Heckman, director of residential asset management for Larken, said the demand for apartments has been growing for years.
“The demand is just insane right now,” she said. “Our occupancy has been great because of the demand.”
In fact, she said like the Pinnacle building, Larken is converting other office spaces into apartments. She said one project in New Jersey has demolished an old office building to be replaced by 250 apartment units.
But, she said, it’s not just a matter of “if you build it, they will come.” Larken is making design changes to the new apartments it constructs to make it easier for tenants to work from home.
“We make sure we have areas set up for working, that there’s an area that is a little separate where they can set up a desk and a computer and use it for office space,” Heckman said.
She said common areas are also being repurposed. Since it’s sometimes difficult to work from home if there are children, or maybe the worker just needs a change of scenery, Larken is turning community room space into an area that’s work friendly.
She said many of their community rooms, like at the Pinnacle, now have Wi-Fi and printers for tenants to work from.
“There is the availability for a change of scenery, but not necessarily with a lot of people, like if you set up at a Starbucks or someplace like that,” she said. “This is really bringing people in having those amenities on site.”
At 3 West Broad St., Bethlehem traditional office space has been converted into retail space and will be used by a hibachi restaurant and a hair salon. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –
So, what about those offices that are being vacated or downsized?
Rob Marek, executive vice president of commercial real estate for Larken, said 3 West Broad St. in Bethlehem is a good example of how his company used creative thinking to keep the property fully leased.
He said that when a 4,200-square-foot office space in the building was available after the tenant closed its office, he found something besides another corporate client to take the space.
Instead, he filled it with a soon-to-open hibachi restaurant, Steak & Steel Hibachi, and a hair salon, Catalina Dry Bar.
Of course, Marek said offices aren’t being completely abandoned.
“I’ve seen a lot of different kinds of circumstances because of the pandemic,” he said. He said most of the cases are about right sizing. “One business is going remote, but then a different business is taking the space.”
Especially with larger companies, Marek said there has been a great deal of social pressure to continue to let employees work from home, so less space is needed.
However, many of those companies still need a central office space for staff that need to collaborate in person.
In many cases, that just means companies are looking for smaller offices. Marek said Larken has benefited because of companies leaving larger offices in bigger cities and opening smaller offices in regions like Bethlehem.
He said he’s had companies coming from 20,000-square-foot suites into 5,000-square-foot suites and similar transactions.
What companies are looking for in an office space is also changing.
A few years ago, Marek said, open-space-concept offices were all the rage. Now, since the pandemic, that trend has reversed itself and more people want to go back to working in smaller, separate offices rather than a large communal space.
“People are feeling more vulnerable in an open space,” he said.
Other changes companies are looking for include improved HVAC, with air filtration to help prevent the spread of viruses, and more hard surfaces that are easier to clean.
The big trend now is toward coworking space, said Marek.
He said many people no longer have offices to go to but may need a professional space to work out of occasionally.
Larken has been converting some of its properties into coworking space. He said that in one New Jersey property the company is taking a 10,000-square-foot office space and turning it into 15 smaller executive suites. Those spaces usually have a common area such as a kitchen or conference room that all those office tenants can use instead of a formal office.
The industry is changing, and Marek said for property managers to survive, they need to adapt, change and be more creative to stay on top of the evolving demand.
Pennsylvania housing prices rose 14% last year reaching a median price of $192,040, up from $168,152 in 2020, according to a housing market report prepared for the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors.
The median price in December was $194,637, up about 9% compared to $178,475 in December 2020.
“The housing market in the commonwealth has kept its rapid pace through 2021. In fact, we’ve seen home sale prices steadily increase over the past five years,” said PAR President Christopher Beadling. “The median home sale price is up about 37% compared to approximately $140,000 in 2017, which shows that purchasing a home is a good, long-term investment, particularly when interest rates remain relatively low.”
Inventory continues to be a challenge in the Pennsylvania market. Listings were down 26% in December, compared to the same time in 2020. “There were more than 152,000 fewer listings in 2021 compared to the previous year,” Beadling said. “That makes it difficult for buyers looking to purchase a home, particularly as we’ve seen more buyers enter the market.”
The tighter inventory has led to the number of home sales declining about 5.5% in December, compared to the same time in 2020.
The former Revolutions multi venue entertainment center in Saucon Valley Square has been sold.
The Bethlehem site, formerly owned by Frank Entertainment, was traded to 3717 FEC LLC. The sale price was not disclosed.
The buyer was represented by both Scott Horner and Seth Lacey of Colliers. Plans for the site, 3717 Route 378, will be revealed in the coming months, according to a statement from Colliers.
The site, a 38,565-square-foot facility, features a 20-lane bowling alley, arcade, social games and a full-service restaurant with multiple bars.
The location was shuttered amongst other closures within the chain in 2019 – Philadelphia Fishtown and Rock Hill, South Carolina sites were also affected.
“The family entertainment industry struggled immensely throughout COVID, but it is making a very strong comeback. When Revolutions went dark its impact was felt in this community and so we are proud to have played a part in reigniting this site as an exciting new place to come together and have fun,” said Lacey.
“The new owners have a great vision and are open minded when it comes to plans. They are working harder than anyone to make sure this site has a new reputation. They know the site has great bones and potential, but just needed the right operator that knows the market. There is a lot happening behind the scenes in this part of the Lehigh Valley. It’s going to be special,” he said.
Pennsylvania homeowners that are at or below 150% of their region’s median income will soon be able to apply for financial assistance through the new Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund (PAHAF).
The Wolf administration announced this week that the new fund, administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), has been approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The fund consists of $350 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund and will be given to Pennsylvania homeowners grappling with unforeseen financial hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As we continue to advance our COVID-19 recovery efforts, we must address the rising number of homeowners facing possible loss of their homes and foreclosure – this program will do just that,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “The Homeowner Assistance Fund will prioritize individuals and families with the greatest need, as well as those who are socially disadvantaged. I am grateful that the U.S. Treasury has approved Pennsylvania’s plan, and we can start the new year by distributing this critical funding to homeowners.”
PAHAF will use the funds to provide eligible Pennsylvania homeowners with much-needed assistance to prevent and/or ease mortgage delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures, displacement and utility disconnection.
Our mission is to help Pennsylvanians achieve housing stability despite the many hardships faced during these uncertain times,” said Robin Wiessmann, executive director and CEO of the PHFA. “PAHAF will provide critical support to eligible Pennsylvania homeowners, allowing families to recover and helping communities overcome the devastating financial and economic impacts of the pandemic.“
Applications for the fund open on Feb. 1. applicants that qualify for the assistance must be a Pennsylvania homeowner that saw a reduction of income or increase in living expenses due to the pandemic after January 21, 2020.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.