The developer already building a hotel and office buildings in downtown Allentown now has plans for a $37 million project at the former Colonial Theater site.
J.B. Reilly plans to construct Three City Center -- a five-story office and retail building -- at the site of the former theater at 513-525 Hamilton St.
City Center Lehigh Valley, Reilly's company, plans to establish 110,000 square feet of office and retail space, with 8,500 square feet of stores on the ground floor and offices in the upper stories, as well as a 112-space underground parking garage.
The Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority signed off on Reilly's plans today, although the county must still approve it because it owns a portion of the property.
City Center is already constructing a 180-room hotel attached to the hockey arena, as well as two office complexes in the downtown that will be seven and 11 stories each.
Between those projects and others, such as a five-story apartment building on Seventh Street and an expanded Arts Walk, Reilly estimates City Center has invested more than $300 million into the city's downtown.
"I've been an investor for 25 years and I've never seen this level of energy and activity," Reilly said.
Construction on the new Colonial Theater site project is expected to begin by the end of this year and be completed by January 2015.
Reilly said he has already spoken to several prospective tenants but declined to identify any companies by name.
The other office buildings City Center is constructing -- the seven-story One City Center and 11-story Two City Center -- are "basically leased out," Reilly said, so interest in the space at the Colonial Theater site was high.
"We're working with a bunch of companies from out of state and in state," he said.
Blighted and long vacant, the former Colonial Theater was demolished in 2005. The theater closed in 1982 after 62 years in operation, and the Allentown Commercial and Industrial Development Authority took ownership of the property in 2003.
Reilly will purchase the property for $1 million, although he will pay more if the plans are expanded and additional floors are added to the building, said authority Executive Director Scott Unger.
The building will have entrances on Hamilton Street and the Arts Park, and Reilly said it will help create a lively pedestrian passageway between the park and the hockey arena.
City Center was one of two firms that responded to a request for proposals issued by the authority for the property.
The second firm was a partnership between Think Loud Development and Alvin H. Butz Inc., which wanted to build a 10- to 15-story complex, Unger said.
That proposal included apartments, a club, retail stores, artist studios and a digital marquee on the building's exterior, he said.
The authority rejected that proposal in favor of City Center's. Think Loud and Butz were seeking to buy the property for $800,000 up front and $400,000 later, Unger said.
Lehigh County owns about 23 percent of the Colonial Theater lot, so Lehigh County commissioners must approve the sale. They could vote on the matter as early as Aug. 7.
Source: lehighvalleylive.com
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