Five City Center to bring 1,000 jobs to Allentown

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

Allentowns Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority at Wednesdays committee meeting approved plans for a seven-story office building expected to bring up to a thousand jobs to the citys downtown district.

The Five City Center is one of numerous developments being built by City Center Investment Corp. surrounding the currently under construction Allentown hockey arena that will host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers minor-league affiliate.

Occupying a whole block of Walnut Street between Seventh and Eighth streets, the complex will be utilized as an office space during the day and for arena-related activities at night.

City Center representatives were recently granted additional tax cuts for further developments, but had to seek board approval before beginning construction.

A couple months ago this board approved the expansion of our [Neighborhood Improvement Zone] credit facility by $15 million, said City Center CEO J.B. Reilly. This building will house potentially 700 to 1,000 workers, which we believe will have a positive impact on the downtown.

Although currently no tenants have been officially disclosed, Reilly said he is confident the location will be filled and generate revenue for local government and nearby businesses.

Therell be new office workers. Its going to create some demand on residential [and] on retail, Reilly said. That will potentially have an impact. I would argue a positive impact.

Although tentative plans have been laid out before the development authority, officials say there may still be changes before the buildings construction begins in 2015.

The final dimensions of the building are really going to be driven by the tenant or tenants that will be moving there, Reilly said. All of our projects are really driven by tenant demand.

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Five City Center to bring 1,000 jobs to Allentown