AIA SDAT Allentown Preliminary Report

Allentown, PA SDAT: Creating a Sustainable City Center A Sustainable Design Assessment Team Project September 27-29, 2010

The SDAT Team Mission • The SDAT team was charged “to strengthen the functionality and sense of place while increasing the sustainability of our center city”: – Improve transportation options – Create a more visually appealing streetscape – Improve use of downtown buildings – Increase market rate housing

Hamilton Street • There are not one, not two, but four Hamilton Streets – Government Center – Arts Center – Restaurant/business center – Neighborhood mixed use center • Each has its assets and its problems

Old Allentown 5th Street 9th Street Street 12th Neighborhood Regional Government Mixed Use Destination Center

Assets • Strong, largely intact texture of historic buildings • Compact, walkable environment • Key activity clusters – restaurants, arts institutions • Committed public and private sector leadership

Problems • Weak retail environment • Low building utilization – vacant storefronts and empty upper floors • Poor visibility, unclear entries and lack of connectivity to other community assets • Negative perceptions – real problems?

• The present and future of Hamilton Street and of Old Allentown are closely related – what happens in one, strongly affects the other. • Strategies for the two areas should be coordinated • Linkages between the two areas should be enhanced.

Guiding Principles • Allentown is a diverse community – racially, ethnically and economically. The city must recognize its diversity, and build on it for the future. • Neither the city of Allentown nor Hamilton Street can be all things to all people – resources need to be focused strategically on key issues.

A Regional Destination Range of Cultural Arts Attractions and Entertainment

A Regional Destination • Enhance Hamilton Street as a restaurant destination

A Regional Destination • Expand and raise the profile of the Allentown arts community • Hamilton Street is the hub • Building Arts Identity

A Neighborhood Asset  Hamilton Avenue: 10th to 12th Street  Neighborhood-oriented service retail: Old Allentown and West Walnut  Celebrate the community diversity  Encourage housing over commercial

A Neighborhood Asset Hamilton Avenue: 10th to 12th Street Precedent: “StoreWorks” NYC Homeownership and neighborhood retail program in 1-8 unit buildings

Increase Housing Choices • WHY? – Build stronger housing market – Create more economic diversity in and around Hamilton Street – Get more activity and purchasing power onto Hamilton Street – Build 24/7 downtown

Increase Housing Choices • HOW? – Build the middle market – not ‘means-tested’ housing – Create more downtown living options – Incentivize more home ownership and rehabilitation in Old Allentown – Market center city as a good place to live

Building From Strength • A district approach: More feet on the street • Add restaurants that offer quality and diversity– and BUZZ! • New uses to extend length of stay

Restaurant Recruitment: Winston Salem • Emphasis on existing owners/operators • Local expansion • Up to 37.5% of project cost • Up to $150K • Avg. loan of $75K • Downtown rehab grant program

Capture Business Opportunities • Restore historic Americus Hotel as a Downtown destination • Capture hospitality / conferencing / special events business • Extend hours of activity and economic growth Downtown

Building the Base • Increase coordinated marketing efforts among ALL Allentown cultural arts groups • Increase coordination between arts programming and restaurant / hospitality businesses • Coordinated retail corridor merchandising

Arts & Entertainment Districts

Transitional Anti-establishment (guerilla) Establishment

Transitional

MAKING THE ARTS VISIBLE: EPHEMERA

Arts & Entertainment Incentives • Align incentives • Customize façade grants – E.g. promote animated, sculptural, neon • Artist housing • Restaurant development • Window display assistance

Managing the District • City (DCED) • Redevelopment Auth • Chamber (Main St) • AEDC • LVEDC • County

Transit agency Banks City planning Chamber of Businesses agency commerce Property Industrial owners development Tourism Public works agency agency agency Schools Preservation Arts groups organizations SBDCs Neighborhood Civic residents associations

Historic Preservation

Historic Preservation Hamilton Street’s historic buildings form a remarkable (and enviable) collection of historic resources.

Historic Preservation - Why it is Important For commercial districts: •Sense of Place •Provides connections to a communities’ past. •Welcoming environment; attractive to visitors. •Combination of ‘historic’ and ‘new’ provides dynamic places.

Old and New: PPL Plaza

Historic Preservation - Why it is Important For adjacent residential neighborhoods: • Enhances neighborhood livability • Walkable communities – pedestrian connection to adjacent Old Allentown and other historic neighborhoods. • Provides restaurant and retail for nearby residents.

Historic Preservation A vehicle for economic development Miami Beach

Historic Preservation Farr’s Department Store

Historic Preservation Tools for Rehabilitation: • Design Guidelines – provide direction for property owners and the City. • Façade Improvement Programs • Federal Investment Tax Credits • Other City & County programs to support rehabilitation of historic properties

Historic Preservation Tools for Rehabilitation – by City • Create a ‘Downtown Allentown’ National Register District for Hamilton Street – to lay the framework for property owners to more easily use Federal ITC’s. • Educate property owners on federal ITC’s and other incentives for rehabilitation. • In addition to Façade Program, City to consider other programs to assist small building owners.

Historic Preservation Preservation & rehabilitation of historic buildings should occur both at the large and small scale. .

Historic Preservation Preservation & rehabilitation of historic buildings should occur both at the large and small scale.

The Downtown Public Realm Center Square

The Downtown Public Realm Center Square 7TH TENTH 2 TWELTH THE DOWNTOWN DISTRICT THE CIVIC ZONE HAMILTON STREET

The Downtown Public Realm Center Square The heart of downtown

The Downtown Short Term Public Realm Repair and replace pavement Center Square Replace street furniture Address sign impact to monument Provide interpretative materials for Center Square Light the top of the monument

The Downtown Public Realm Center Square Long Term Stage a design competition Investigate alternative traffic movements through square including two-way on west site of Hamilton Establish visitor kiosk Incorporate appropriate interpretation of historic site and monument Change uses around perimeter to allow cafes, market spaces, performance venues, etc.

The Downtown Public Realm Center Square Long Term Stage a design competition I n t e r n a t i o n a l D e s i g n C o m p e t i t i o n for P i o n e e r C o u r t h o u s e S q u a r e P o r t l a n d , O r e g o n Out of 162 submissions, five finalists emerged, from firms based in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco/Los Angeles, Boston, and Portland. The Portland team, "a group of rabble-raising architects, writers, and an artist" led by chief designer Willard Martin]. Their design received an "Architectural Design Citation" from Progressive Architecture magazine in 1981

The Downtown Public Realm Center Square Long Term: Create a transformative project Stage a design competition Investigate alternative traffic movements through square including two-way on west site of Hamilton Establish visitor kiosks Incorporate appropriate interpretation to give some sense of Allentown’s rich place history Change uses around perimeter to allow cafes, market spaces, performance venues, etc.

The Downtown Public Realm The Hamilton Street Experience

The Downtown Public Realm The Hamilton Street Experience: 5th to 9th Creating a signature gateway experience to the Downtown Integrate signature art element Incorporate lighting as a key design feature of the art Develop a downtown building lighting program to enlarge the experience of the your historic and contemporary architecture

The Downtown Public Realm The Hamilton Street Experience: 5th to 9th

The Downtown Public Realm The Hamilton Street Experience: 5th to 9th Historic Lancaster District Fort Worth, Texas Avenue of Lights

The Downtown Public Realm The Hamilton Street Experience: 5th to 9th

The Downtown Public Realm The Hamilton Street Experience TENTH 2 TWELTH

Linking Destinations • Traffic / Parking – One-way operations – Update coordinated traffic signals – Ample parking supply

Linking Destinations • Wayfinding / Parking Linkages

Linking Destinations • Transit / Bikes / Peds

Change the Housing Market • Market rate housing will bring $$$ to Hamilton Avenue. • Reuse of historic buildings will provide better housing mix and lead to a greater diversity of residents. • Reuse of vacant structures will reduce vacancy on the street.

How? • Reusing historic structures can be complicated and expensive. • Market currently cannot generate enough cash flow to cover the costs of development. • An environment needs to be created that encourages and supports developers.

Where To Start? The market has made a start between 8th and 9th Streets. Focus around Center Square -- the most difficult projects that could have the greatest impact

The Low Hanging Fruit .. Focus on 1. Buildings already owned by the city 2. Buildings that can make the biggest impact 3. Buildings clustered together to create a critical mass 4. Buildings that will be of the highest quality

First Tier of Development • 9 buildings in varying sizes • 3 project clusters • huddled together to create critical mass • 116 new residences • in the next 4 years

Residential Project Clusters historic new total S.f. cost Schoen Building 22 0 22 45,000 $6,800,000.00 Hamilton Row 28 18 46 55,000 $8,250,000.00 12 N. 7th Street 8 0 8 10,000 $1,500,000.00 First National site 0 40 40 55,000 $8,100,000.00 Totals 58 58 116 165,000 $24,650,000.00

The Schoens Building Turn this into … this

703 - 717 Hamilton Ave Turn this …

703 - 717 Hamilton Ave Into this …

12 N. 7th Street This … into this.

First National Bank Turn this … into this

The Proforma What’s needed to build these projects? $24,650,000 Developer equity at 5% $1,232,500 What can the income stream support in loan $9,500,000 payments? What dollars do we need to find? $13,917,500 … and where do we find them?

Finding the Dollars 1. Give the buildings away With a financing gap of around 55% for these projects, the building do not currently have any “value” to existing owners. 2. List the historic structures on the National Register $2,120,000 could be raised through historic tax credit parterships

Finding the Dollars 3. Provide matching façade grants Our 3 project clusters include 11 facades. Matching façade grants of $30,000 would total $330,000. Increase the current $200,000 pool of funds available for these projects and others.

Finding the Dollars 4. Vacant upper floors Fund a $3 million loan program, covering 50% of project costs or $50,000 per residential unit. Our project clusters would use $1.4 million of these funds for the Schoen’s building, the Hamilton Street Row and 12 N. 7th Street.

Finding the Dollars 5. Explore New Market Tax Credits These can raise as much as 39% of the project cost for housing projects in low income communities, such as the Hamilton Street corridor.

Finding the Dollars 6. Create a housing trust fund Raise dollars that can be loaned to developers of housing at discounted rates by - giving ground leases, and reaping some rewards once projects cash flow - state dollars - federal dollars - foundation dollars

Finding the Dollars 7. Parking Developers of historic buildings must have ample parking nearby. Work with them to provide - free vacant lots - free parking in under-utilized parking structures - a discounted residential parking program - free parking for residents at parking meters

… And Why Should You Do This? • Downtown residential can leverage much more than just housing units • There will be $$ to spend living right in downtown • The tax base will be increased for the city • You can all reap the benefits of these developments – every store owner will have more customers; every restaurant will have more patrons

Increase Home Ownership in Old Allentown • Encourage qualified neighborhood renters to become home owners – Provide homebuyer education and counseling – Ensure homes are in decent condition • Encourage middle income households to buy and rehab houses. – Facilitate process – Provide financial incentives to cover ‘market gap’

Housing Timeline Immediate 1-3 years 3-5 years 5+ years Add 40 downtown Add 80-100 Continue units downtown units Initiate Continue Continue downtown/Old Allentown marketing campaign Initiate incentives Continue Continue for homebuyers and rehabbers in Old Allentown

Organize For Success • Choose, prioritize, focus, execute. • Concentrate resources around strategies • Build ongoing partnerships • Become a community for everyone.

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AIA SDAT Allentown Preliminary Report

by Allentown Economic Development Corporation on Oct 14, 2010

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AIA SDAT Allentown Preliminary Report — Presentation Transcript