Proposed plans for an apartment complex on the site of the former Neighbors Home & Garden center on Main Street in Hellertown call for the construction of three apartment buildings accompanied by 207 parking spaces. Developer Greystone Capital Inc. said some of the spaces–which are shaded dark brown on the above diagram–would be covered. (FILE PHOTO)
The developer of several proposed apartment buildings that would be constructed on the site of the former Neighbors Home & Garden Center on Main Street in Hellertown is scheduled to appear before borough council at their Tuesday, Feb. 22 meeting.
Plans for the 142-unit residential unit complex were first presented to the Hellertown Planning Commission by developer Greystone Capital Inc. last fall.
At that meeting, the developer presented plans to build three 4-story buildings on the roughly 5.5-acre site near Saucon Creek and Tumminello Park at the south end of town.
The building designs as presented were between 46,000 and 50,000 square feet in size and included between 46 and 50 apartment units per building.
The plans also called for 207 parking spaces, some of which would be covered, and the construction of outdoor amenities such as a large courtyard at the center of the complex.
Greystone told planners the complex’s target market would be “young professionals,” which is why the majority of the units would be studios and one-bedroom apartments.
“When we looked at Hellertown and did our market analysis and looked at what we thought was sufficient in the market, we came to the conclusion that we thought the market was terribly underserved of high-end studios and high-end one-bedroom (apartments),” an official representing the developer said in September.
The rent for studio units was estimated to be in the range of $1,100 to $1,300 a month.
Representatives from Greystone Capital Inc. told the Hellertown Planning Commission last fall that the aesthetics of the three apartment buildings they’re proposing for the former Neighbors site would be consistent with existing structures on Main Street. Pictured above is a rendering of another Greystone project, Sullivan Parke Apartments in Forks Township, which company representatives said would serve as inspiration for the new buildings in Hellertown. (FILE PHOTO)
Neighbors, which closed in the summer of 2020, was a landmark business in Hellertown for 30 years, selling everything from trees to grills to Christmas ornaments and decor.
In other business at Monday’s borough council meeting, borough manager Cathy Hartranft announced that the borough is planning an e-recycling and paper shredding event for residents which is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 30.
Hartranft said the event would last two hours or until the trucks brought in to collect the items were full, with more details to be announced once the date and time are confirmed.
“We’re anticipating a lot (of demand) because no one had this last year,” she said.
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The Feb. 22 borough council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in-person at Hellertown Borough Hall and online via Zoom and Facebook. Meeting agendas are posted in advance on the borough’s website, HellertownBorough.org, where residents can also register to receive email alerts from the borough. The meeting will be open to the public.
Development has been a major subject of discussion in the borough recently, with several mixed use, residential-commercial buildings proposed at the north end of town near I-78.
At Monday’s meeting, borough council president Tom Rieger said council was in receipt of several letters from residents of the neighborhood who oppose those plans, which are proposed in Hellertown’s flexible redevelopment overlay district around Kichline Avenue.
