Penrose outlines Gateway on 4th plan: about 120 units, on-site clinic and $4 million land donation

Penrose Properties presented its Gateway on 4th redevelopment plan in Bethlehem, telling local and federal officials the two-phase project aims to deliver about 120 housing units across market-rate and affordable tiers and include community-serving space.

Penrose representative Kelly Yan, who opened the developer presentation, said, "Gateway on 4th will... deliver about a total of a 120 high quality housing units available to a wide range of income levels." Yan said the first phase includes two buildings at the site that together would contain roughly 60 units, and that affordable units would start at "as low as 20% of area medium income." Yan also told attendees the project will include a ground-floor health clinic to be occupied by the Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley, identified at the event as the area's first Federally Qualified Health Center.

Funding and partnerships: Yan said the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park, the city of Bethlehem and the state of Pennsylvania have each made commitments to the project; Yan said LVIP provided a $4,000,000 donation of land to support development. McKenzie also referenced a separate, earlier award of $3,700,000 to redevelop the Crane Iron Works site in Catasauqua into more than 300 apartments and said he is pursuing an additional $1,000,000 to help develop 100 new units at that site.

Timeline and next steps: Penrose said it is working through permitting and financing for the first phase and hopes to break ground late this year or early next year. No permitting approvals, construction starts or final financing terms were announced at the event.

Attribution: Project details, unit counts and funding descriptions are drawn from the Penrose presentation and McKenzies remarks at the event; the article attributes figures to the speakers who provided them.