Fountain Hill residents began buzzing after a sign advertising the renovations to the renamed Broadway Plaza appeared at the corner of Broadway and S. Clewell Street this week.
Following the 2021 sale of a piece of prime commercial real estate in Fountain Hill it was announced that apartments would be built there, but following another sale, plans for the property’s future have changed dramatically.
The property at 960 Broadway is currently home to an aged six-unit strip mall, which local home builder Nic Zawarski had planned to demolish in order to build a three-story apartment building.
A sketch plan for the Broadway Plaza shopping center renovations depicts new windows and doors along with new awnings that will be installed above them and a large sign featuring the property’s address. (Courtesy of Indigo Investments LLC)
Zawarski discussed his plans for the apartments with borough officials last August, but in the intervening months sold the property for $650,000 to another developer.
According to Lehigh County property records, the strip mall property was purchased by Indigo Investments LLC of Bethlehem Township earlier this month.
Jesse Chupella, a realtor and developer who co-owns Indigo Investments with realtor/developer Tom Cramer, said his company plans to invest in the shopping center by renovating its facade and seeking to fill several longstanding vacancies.
Chupella said their decision to go in a different direction than Zawarski had planned was an easy one based on the fact that “it’s a perfectly good building.”
Indigo Investments’ plan for the rechristened Broadway Plaza is to “give it a fresh look” by renovating the facade, Chupella said, adding that doors and windows will be replaced during the project.
A sketch plan fo the project also depicts new awnings above the doors and windows.
With a permit from the borough of Fountain Hill in hand, Chupella said Friday that renovations should begin in about two weeks.
The current tenants of the shopping center are “ecstatic,” he said, particularly because business has slowed for them since news that the building would be demolished was reported last summer.
The strip mall is currently home to several businesses, including a Colombian restaurant, a laundromat, a notary and a clothing store. Several other units in the main building are vacant, one of which is a freestanding structure on the other side of the center’s parking lot, which for many years housed a bank branch.
Chupella said plans for the former bank have not yet been formulated.
Anyone interested in information about leasing space in the renovated shopping center can reach Chupella at 484-550-2530.
A weather-beaten strip mall on Broadway in Fountain Hill borough is about to get a new lease on life thanks to a local development team that is planning to renovate its facade. Work on the building is expected to begin by mid-February.
