It's adorable that people worry that the new development in Allentown, especially that anticipated by the river, will lead to gentrification, and rents rising beyond the reach of existing residents.
Rents have risen in Allentown and everywhere else since the pandemic. However, this increase has nothing to do with gentrification, and has occurred everywhere, even in areas with no new development.
When I go to our new NIZTOWN, formally known as the Allentown business district, one thing I can't find is gentrification. I see endless new publicly financed, privately owned J.C. Reilly buildings, but no new demographic. I suppose that they must be there, hiding in their Strata Lofts, but nobody could confuse or accuse the street scene as gentrified.
As matter of fact, I find the lack of ambience rather amazing. Who could have imagined that with so many new buildings, and with over a $Billion of our money given to a private owner, there would be no signs of life, and certainly no signs of an improved new street life.
photocredit:molovinsky/NIZ preparing to destroy Allentown's mercantile history and architecture
The NIZ is a strange animal, as you note. I went down to the Arts Walk for a few of the summer events they held there on Thursdays, and there were decent sized crowds but not as big as I'd expect from all the new apartments surrounding the area.
ReplyDeleteI also recognized a few of the faces at the events, who like me were not residents of the immediate area. Maybe those events and eateries have gotten old to those living nearby, but like you I wonder if those people even exist.
As to gentrification, I can also confirm that it has thus far escaped the 7-11 at 7th and Hamilton, just outside the NIZ border and a stone's throw from the trendy Arts Walk.
With hockey season coming, perhaps you'll see more people on the streets on game nights, which is good.
However, I was to several Phantoms games last season and the arena wasn't even a quarter filled. I don't know if that was because inflation is pricing people out of the games, or if people were still fearful of being among indoor crowds, or a combination of both.
Either way, those attendance levels certainly weren't what was sold to the taxpayers when the arena was being built on their dime.
A little off topic, but I paid a visit to West Park yesterday evening.
ReplyDeleteYou've probably read about the lockdown at Allen, Raub and Union Terrace schools yesterday as a result of the possible shooting and juvenile arrested with a gun there yesterday morning, but I was shocked at the condition of the park.
The park was filled with litter, leaves, and vagrants. One gentleman was drunk, high, or half asleep while lying on the benches near the band shell. He smelled like he had been there for a while.
None of that was ever tolerated or allowed to spread at West Park. Where were the police who can surely see what's going on through the cameras in the park, and where is our city Parks Department who used to clean up litter and debris on a daily basis?
Litter and leaves need to be cleaned up, and the homeless or those with addiction problems need help, not a free pass to loiter in public areas.
If this is the level of attention given to the details by the new Tuerk administration, we won't be having to worry about gentrification anywhere in the city. Those who can will move and gentrify the suburbs, while the city will continue to trend downward.
Allentown has changed for sure. I find the downtown area you refer to especially odd. My understanding is all of the apartments, or at least most of the flats, are leased. Having lived in or around San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami, New York City, and Baltimore. I find that metro Allentown lacks what is so prominent in those cities - people. I see few walking dogs, strolling Hamilton Street, or frequenting the Arts walk. Art? Researching the rental websites indicates these buildings intend to also serve as social communities of like-minded individuals afforded fire pits, communal gathering areas, social hours, swimming pools, and dog walking areas. Driving around downtown, I see little evidence at night indicating a thriving community. If the people are there, they seem to nestle in some form of socioeconomic and cultural incarceration. Not how I would choose to live. The downtown area does not seem to have a soul. Apartments and parking spaces are the fabric of the city, surrounded by encroaching crime and violence. I highly suspect Allentown rogue motorcyclists will take to the halls of the Strata one day. In some sense, the site is useless to anyone outside of it. Kind of like all dressed up and nowhere to go.
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