Here's a story you will not read about on any official City of Allentown website. It's a story of private gumption, instead of the usual public subsidy. It's the late 1990's, and I stop in and visit infamous Allentown landlord Joe Clark. He's sitting at a desk in the middle of a large empty storefront at 7th and Turner, surrounded by landlord supplies and building materials. The phone rings and it's Mayor William Heydt. Heydt just learned that Clark purchased the vacant Eastern Light Building on Hamilton Street, and wants to know Clark's intentions. Clark tells him he's going to build the best nightclub Allentown has ever seen. Heydt doesn't offer any help, but tells him that he'll be under close scrutiny. Clark does go on to build the club, without a nickel of help from Allentown. Years later, when the BrewWorks would open with unlimited city subsidy, a public parking lot on 8th Street was given exclusively to the BrewWorks. A few weeks ago Clark asked if he could rent the Parking Authority lot behind the nightclub; Request Denied. This week, based on ticket sales, Crocodile Rock was rated the 60th most successful nightclub in the world for 2011. The midgets at City Hall pay for consultants, when there's a genius half a block away.above reprinted from January of 2012
ADDENDUM February 8, 2023:What brings this decade old plus post back today is the news that J.B. Reilly's CityCenter Real Estate will build a band venue within their new projects in the 900 block of Hamilton Street. The Morning Call doesn't mention that Reilly purchased the old Croc Rock building and virtually all of Hamilton Street, except for a few holdouts who wouldn't sell. The Morning Call also doesn't mention that Croc Rock was run by Joe Clark, less, but still infamous. I can't tell you how much the current Call article amused me, but Joe got to laugh all the way to the bank.
You want to see something interesting, just check out moveupdowntown.com and see the propaganda being put out there by City Center: You Can Feel it in the Air! I don't believe there are this many affluent, hipster white people with cute puppies living in Brooklyn! I never knew center city Allentown, one of America's fastest growing, uber cool urban centers, had so many interesting destinations for Gen Z members to network and socialize. And the community events for cool music and craft beer! Wow.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Hipsters are gathering in Easton; not Allentown. If there ever was an Allentown moment, it's long gone. Visit each of our three cities at 10 PM tonight. Easton will be rocking for several more hours. Bethlehem will be getting sleepy after its productive dinner hours. Potemkin Allentown is will be dead, as usual.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between other urban renewal programs and Allentown’s NIZ is this. The NIZ is using Pennsylvania tax dollars to create a private portfolio of business property shells that might, or might not be profitable to whoever leases the space inside those buildings.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it matters too much to the builder/owner of a new NIZ structure. If a building remains vacant, or underutilized, the structure itself can be SOLD and adapted for a different use. The proceeds of the sale do not benefit the taxpayers who paid to build it!
Looking long term, I would not be surprised to see existing apartment buildings sold (at exorbitant prices) to either State or Federal agencies and used for low income housing units.
This has always been the fear. No one listened. No one wants to hear the truth in this city.
DeleteI suspect most or all of the downtown apartments will be taken over by the Commonwealth as "affordable housing"
DeleteAnonymous 9:52 - I was being very sarcsatic..I'm in center city 2 or 3 nights a month and the streets are completely abandoned with not even a single cute puppy getting taken out for a pee or upwardly mobile young white hipsters sipping imperial IPAs at Bru Daddy.
ReplyDelete"Looking long term, I would not be surprised to see existing apartment buildings sold (at exorbitant prices) to either State or Federal agencies and used for low income housing units."
ReplyDeleteThat is my primary concern...what happens if the developer decides to shut down the website and just sell them all for use as low/fixed income housing. We already know the current political climate among most elected officials in Allentown would view this as a positive outcome. That is my #1 concern and I don't know if there are any restrictions that would prevent this from happening.
In Reilly's grand design, there was an entertainment center planned for South 7th Street, just south of Center Square some years ago. That seemed to disspear over the past few years. Now we have this new plan for one by the old Rialto theater, It's interesting to note that most of the Rialto was torn down in the early 1980s for a parking deck; the only remaining part is the old lobby section that was leased to PP&L. The Rialto storefronts, built after the 1946 fire run west to 10th and are all empty. If this area is now in Mr Reilly's grand plan for a concert/entertainment center, I wish him well. Perhaps the large presece of the Allentown Police Department next door will save it from the fate of Bananna Joes, Crocodile Rock, and similar venues which wound up having to close their doors due to the conduct of the people who frequented them.
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