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Lehigh Valley Live
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Allentown high-rise developer says there's room in the real estate market By Gregg Bortz | The Express-Times on March 29, 2013 at 6:30 AM, updated March 29, 2013 at 6:36 AM For developer Bruce Loch, his sky-high vision of a Center City Allentown office tower culminates a 30-year dream. Loch is proposing to build the Lehigh Valleys tallest building, the 33-story Landmark Tower, at North Ninth and West Walnut streets in the city. Its a renewal of a plan he first envisioned in 1985 but scuttled a few years later as the economy trailed off, he said. Now, in hopes of an economic revival both nationally and in Allentown -- and with the financing of the citys special tax zone -- his plans are rising again. He found the opportunity when the Allentown Parking Authority sought bids for a parcel of land next to its parking garage at Ninth and Walnut. And he hopes to secure funding for the $60 million project because the site is part of the citys Neighborhood Improvement Zone, which diverts new state and local non-property taxes toward development in a 127.3-acre zone that covers Center City and waterfront property along the Lehigh River. The NIZ zone makes it a lot easier, Loch said of getting his project off the ground. Seymour Sy Traub, chairman of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority, said his organization has yet to be contacted with the proposal. I learned about it in the newspapers, Traub said. Were very pleased that people are interested in further developing the downtown. [...] |