According to Matt Assad of The Morning Call, millennials and empty nesters are flocking to Strata Flats to rent the apartments. I suppose that they like the ambience of the 7-11, which is catty corner from the apartments. Demand is so great that Reilly will build additional apartments across from Symphony Hall, which is next to the Hook Restaurant, formerly the Cosmopolitan, once the project gets through city planning. Sure hope the city planners go along with Reilly, I know that they're tough on him. Wonder if they will allow him to use wood frame like he did on the first building? You will also be surprised to know that Alvin Butz's new NIZ Phase 3 passed city approval.
This is the second infomercial that Assad has written for Reilly, promoting his apartments. It's apparent to me that Reilly has found a way to harvest NIZ money from residential tenants. If he isn't somehow tapping their state income tax, I would then be suspicious of the prorations between the residential and commercial portions of the buildings; Understand that nobody checks the NIZ figures, nobody produces or checks financials, and nobody cares. All is fair in love and the NIZ.
shown above Plywood Plaza, aka Strata Flats
Interesting word for an impartial reporter to use, "flocking" bias anyone?
ReplyDelete@6:46, some clarification is in order. assad wrote "apartments in center city are renting faster than developer J.B. Reilly can build them." the articles sub-title is As millennials and empty-nesters flock downtown, developers have trouble keeping up who wrote the sub-title is unclear
ReplyDeleteI actually live there, have been since september. Its a pretty nice place. They leased the last few remaining apartments there sometime last month. As much as you don't like the morning call on these matters, I can confirm the complex is filled to capacity now. They're telling the truth.
ReplyDeletewow spencer, quite a coincidence, according to a previous comment that you had submitted to another post, you also worked at the school system, and had information contrary to my perceptions about that topic. would you kindly send me some contact information, so that i might verify where you live, which i will not print and keep confidential.
ReplyDeleteAs an empty nester currently living in the burbs, and after visiting my daughter who currently lives in NYC, where you can walk to shops and restaurants, I'll have to admit there is some appeal to living in an urban environment where you can walk everywhere. A couple of weeks ago, I needed to go into downtown Atown, and decided to walk around and check things out. None of the shops currently open are places I'd visit on a regular basis, and the restaurants seem to me are not the type you'd run into for a quick meal or takeout for a few bucks. To top things off, two people approached me asking for money. I'll pass.
ReplyDeleteThis is a marathon, not a sprint. We'll see who has the endurance to go the distance with the realities of living downtown soon enough. I've heard long walks in the surrounding neighborhoods are consistent with a very healthy lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteS0, they created an incentive for new businesses, created some upper middle class food franchises, and even cultivated a shopping district but they forgot one thing: the NEED or REASONING for the people to come work, eat and shop. A billion dollars is being spent and the huge influx of young upper middle class families / employees never seemed to come. Many people have told me that it takes time, but for a billion dollars I really need to see more than staged apartments, stacked specialty eateries, and Happy Hours / Mixers that attract the same people every month. Again, not anti -Atown but just making some obvious observations... It's not too late to salvage our City but it's up to us to bring the change, vibe, and interest..."
ReplyDelete- Alfonso Todd
I had a bum ask me for money outside Johnny's Bagels yesterday. Having spend a lot of time downtown, I'll bet the Strata apartments function like Atlantic City, where people basically drive in and drive out and are afraid to go outside after dark. I'll agree the white collar rush hour foot traffic downtown is new and interesting, but the vagrants, the mentally ill and the urban underclass are not leaving. Its scary down there from 7:00 pm - 7:00 am and there's no way that everyday empty nesters are suddenly having an epiphany, moving downtown and becoming street smart urbanites. I'd love to find out more about the types of residents actually living there.
ReplyDeleteIt's a Potemkin Village, propped up with taxpayer $$$.
ReplyDeleteIt quite impressive....the PR that $$$ can buy.
I know very many people who like to go shopping in Downtown Bethlehem. A few times a year. More than that and even that lovely place is boring. How can anybody speak with a straight face about the downtown shopping in Allentown? What a farce. I guaranty you those new Millenials and old Yuppies at Strata will soon be piling in their cars to dine outside that neighborhood. So much for 'walkable' cities.
ReplyDeleteAnd... if you relocate or raise your upper middle class/middle class family there... what public schools will the children attend? No need to answer that question. There in lies a huge part of the problem. Now.. if the NIZ Kids could attend Parkland, the NIZ housing might be very attractive to families.
ReplyDeleteReilly doesn't get NIZ money from residential tenants. However, the NIZ does allow you to use "spill over" tax dollars from one NIZ project into another NIZ project. For example: the Nat Penn debt service is $2M per year but he gets $3M in tax credits. He can dump that extra Mil into debt service at Nat Penn or dump it into another NIZ project, in this case the Strata. I would bet that's what he's doing there.
ReplyDelete