Developers Garrett and Brandon Benner want to tear down a three-story downtown Bethlehem building, replacing it with a six-story building with retail on the first floor and 33 apartments.
The Bethlehem Planning Commission on Monday is set to review final land development plans for the $7.5 million project at 546-548 N. New St. The property sits just outside the border of the north side Historic District.
The commission is meeting at 6 p.m. instead of its normal 4 p.m. meeting time in Bethlehem’s Town Hall, 10 E. Church St.
The brothers plan to construct a modern-style building that incorporates materials in harmony with the surrounding neighborhood’s historic nature, said Garrett Benner. The duo’s again hired the Philadelphia firm SITIO as the project architect. Firm founder Antonio Fiol-Silva designed both the Levitt Pavilion and the Hoover-Mason Trestle on South Side Bethlehem and is behind the Benners’ Skyline West project on West Broad Street.
“We try to be sensitive to the surrounding area,” Garrett Benner said.
The first floor will feature a wine bar -- the developer declined to identify the tenant yet -- with a mix of studios, one-and-two bedroom market-rate apartments with “great finishes” and washers and dryers in the units, he said. The majority of the two-bedroom apartments are corner units.
Developers Brandon and Garrett Benner want to raze a three-story brick building and construct a 33-unit apartment building with a first-floor wine bar.Courtesy SITIO Architects
While city zoning does not require they provide parking, the Benners propose using the nearby Walnut Street garage for tenant spaces. No formal agreement has been reached with the Bethlehem Parking Authority yet, which is considering massive repairs at Walnut Street or tearing it down and starting fresh.
Because tenants will be walking from the garage, the city is requiring the developers upgrade the traffic light at Walnut and New streets with pedestrian crossing signals and update the traffic signal timings on New Street at Broad, Walnut and Market streets.
To create a loading zone in front of the building, the right-hand turning lane on New Street would be eliminated and new metered spaces will go in front of Rosanna’s and Penn Pizza, said Tracy Samuelson, city assistant director of planning and zoning.
After pursuing the project for a long time, there’s a huge demand for new apartments in downtown Bethlehem, Garrett Benner said. The developer’s Bungalow apartments, in the former Togs building next to the Old Brewery Tavern, were fully leased in under two months.
This investment paired with the $22 million redevelopment of the Boyd Theatre property into 120 apartments and retail could represent a turning point for a stretch of the downtown that’s long vexed city leaders. The decaying Boyd properties create a sharp demarcation between the city’s restaurant row and Main Street shopping and restaurants further up East Broad Street.
The two projects have the potential to bring an influx of new residents and destinations into the neighborhood.
Developers Brandon and Garrett Benner want to tear down this building at 546-548 N. New St. to build 33 apartments.Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com
The Benners’ Matador Holding Co. LLC bought the building Feb. 22, 2013, for $550,000, according to Northampton County property records.
It currently houses the Bethlehem Recovery Center, Fuzzy & Hector’s Collectibles, some offices and an apartment, but much of the building is vacant, Garrett Benner said.
If the developers receive final land development approval, they hope to start construction before the ground gets cold. The build is expected to take 10 to 12 months.
Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.