Alvin H. Butz Inc. earned approval from the Allentown
Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority’s project review committee
Monday for further expansion of its corporate center.
The company started construction on the eight-story
office in July and looks to finish in June or July, Sy Traub, chairman of the
ANIZDA, said this morning. The project is expected to cost nearly $18 million.
“It was a preliminary review to say that it is an
acceptable project, and it will move forward to the board for final approval,”
Traub said. ANIZDA reviews projects in the NIZ special tax district to
determine if they meet guidelines for NIZ financing. The board plans to review
the project Wednesday for final approval.
The project, the second expansion for the Butz Corporate
Center, will go up at Ninth and Hamilton streets.
Butz will build the structure on columns to preserve
parking underneath the building for customers and clients, Traub added.
Traub sees the project as a significant boost to the
commercial growth in Allentown, “which just confirms the fact that downtown is
the place to be,” he said.
“You have another developer other than J.B. Reilly
building a commercial building downtown,” Traub said, in reference to Reilly’s
City Center Investment Corp., the city’s largest developer behind hundreds of
millions of dollars in the downtown’s recent office, retail and residential
growth.
Perhaps the biggest drivers for the development are the
tax incentives for developers in the NIZ.
Source: LVB
No comments:
Post a Comment