Developers look with interest at Allentown State Hospital land (complete article from source)
Source: The Morning Call, by Brian Callaway
January 29, 2010
There are plenty of questions swirling around the impending closure of Allentown State Hospital, including one that has many local leaders and developers buzzing: What happens to all that land?
One of the Lehigh Valley's more prominent builders said he'd be inclined to offer as much as $10 million for the hospital, which sits on 200 acres in east Allentown near the Lehigh River.
''I'd like to buy that,'' developer Abraham Atiyeh said. ''It's up on a hill, it's in the east side of Allentown, it's in a good neighborhood ... you're not surrounded by a high crime rate there. It's very attractive.''
It could be months or even years before a final decision is made about what happens to the property. Mayview State Hospital near Pittsburgh was shuttered in 2008, for instance, and officials have yet to decide what to do with it.
Still, officials know that whatever happens to Allentown State Hospital, scheduled to close Dec. 31, will have a major effect on the city's economy.
The fact that some of the nearly 400 people who work at the hospital could lose their jobs over the year has the greatest immediate impact, Mayor Ed Pawlowski said.
''It hits us and it's definitely a setback for us,'' he said. ''But it's also an opportunity.''
Ed Myslewicz, a spokesman for the state Department of General Services, said his office will be responsible for selling or giving away the property to a new owner once the hospital closes.
While the state sometimes disposes of such surplus land by selling to the highest bidder, he said, ''We will certainly work with the Allentown delegation, the city officials and the county officials to develop the best plan for it.''
Pawlowski said he'd like to see some type of major employer take over the property and ''bring significant jobs back to the urban core.''
That type of development would further bolster the east side of the city, which has benefited from the success of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and Coca-Cola Park. The planned development of the waterfront, anchored by an $80 million professional hockey arena, would also enhance the area.
Atiyeh said the residential character of much of the land around the hospital might make it better suited for housing.
''Being on top of a hill there, it's a perfect retirement community,'' he said. ''If I owned it, I would put an over-55 community there, apartments.''
Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, who was once secretary of the Department of General Services and oversaw the sale of various state properties, said state hospitals elsewhere have been turned into so-called mixed-use developments, which include both housing and other types of buildings.
''The state's been through this before, and I think there's been some positive outcomes,'' he said.
Coming up with a plan that everyone agrees on could be difficult, though, both because of competing interests among elected officials and developers, and the desires of people who live around the hospital.
''It's going to be a while and there's going to be a chorus of voices,'' Cunningham said.
Dennis Pearson, president of the East Allentown-Rittersville Neighborhood Association Inc., weighed in after the announcement, urging the city and state to consider nearby residents when weighing their options.
''We know that the city of Allentown sees the open area of the hospital as an answer to its financial problems,'' Pearson said, ''and other groups look at the land to advance their social and development interests, but Â? we assert that whatever decision that is to be made for reuse of this property should be in the best interest of those who live nearby the site.''
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