Developer previews 54,000‑square‑foot warehouse at Allentown Commerce Park; planning staff flags zoning threshold

Allentown Commerce Park presented a sketch plan for a proposed roughly 54,000‑square‑foot industrial building at 1401 South Twelfth Street during the Planning Commission meeting. The presentation described the site as part of a larger 96‑acre assemblage and said the project would use the site’s existing private drive and tie into sidewalks along South Twelfth.

Planning Department project manager Jennifer Gomez said the sketch phase is for comment only and listed documents the city will require with a later preliminary submission: a project narrative, a landscape plan, exterior lighting, renderings, elevations and verification of easements that provide access to the parcel. Gomez also warned the commission that the city’s draft zoning updates include a restriction on large warehouses at 50,000 square feet; the proposed building is about 54,000 square feet, so developers should work with the zoning office to confirm allowable uses or consider rezoning before submitting a preliminary plan.

Joe Fitzpatrick, counsel for Allentown Commerce Park, described the site assemblage as the largest industrial parcel in the city and said the owner intends to proceed with a 154,000‑square‑foot building already approved on an adjacent parcel and is now showing a smaller building on Parcel C (1401 S. Twelfth). Fitzpatrick said financing and a contractor are in place for the larger building; he and project engineer Paul Susak said the 54,000‑square‑foot structure could be adapted for light manufacturing, small‑scale warehouse needs or contractor-office uses and could be partitioned into two or three tenant spaces.

Engineer Paul Susak described site constraints: utilities and easements along South Twelfth Street limit landscape and berm options at the front, the parcel sits at street level (unlike an adjacent approved 154,000 building that is in a 20‑foot cut), and stormwater management will be handled underground with permits including MPDES expected at the building‑permit stage. The design shows about 10 loading doors, a small trailer parking area and spaces for employee parking; some trailer parking and overflow were described as available on the larger assemblage across the Norfolk Southern right‑of‑way if needed.

Commissioners focused on buffering between truck operations and nearby houses, sidewalk continuity and pedestrian access, visibility and streetscape design on South Twelfth, and minimizing dead‑end parking where feasible. Several commissioners suggested the developer consider pulling the building footprint back (a slightly smaller 50,000‑square‑foot building was raised as an option) to create more room for rear buffering and fencing to screen the residential properties that abut the parcel’s northeast corner.

At public comment, resident Jennifer Swan said she lives nearby and asked how trucks would reach the site and where truck parking or rests would be located; she also raised concerns about worker accommodations inside warehouses. Project representatives said trucks would be routed to South Twelfth via Voltes and Mack/Altice and that the site’s driveway is wide enough for passing trucks but not for trucks to park in the driveway without blocking it. Rick Norris, vice president of Edenwood Realty (the assemblage owner), and Fitzpatrick said tenants historically are business‑to‑business operators with long leases and that typical modern warehouse buildings provide restroom facilities, driver lounges and on‑site trailer parking or trailer drops to avoid street parking.

The presentation concluded as a sketch plan—no vote was required or taken—and staff told the applicant they expect a fuller submission with the items Gomez listed and a Lehigh Valley Planning Commission review once a preliminary plan is filed.