Market Conditions for Allentown, Pennsylvania Reported by The Craig Liles Team, Associate Broker, Senior Residential Specialist, ASP Master Stager, REALTORS Updated January 1, 2012.

Current Market Rating: 1 1 2 3 4 5 Buyer's Seller's

Current Price Trend: 2 1 2 3 4 5 Falling Rising

Downtown Allentown is in the midst of a re-birth. The City will soon have a hockey arena will serve as the anchor for a new entertainment district of various types of development that will create a more vibrant, bustling downtown open 365 days a year. The city hopes the $100 million arena will open by 2013, in time for the hockey season for the Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers' minor league affiliate. The hope is that anchor project will draw a range of entertainment, retail, health, commercial and financial development. The entertainment district would stretch from the Allentown Art Museum on Fifth Street to the arena, which is bound by Seventh and Eighth streets, and Linden and Hamilton streets.
The arena is expected to draw up to 500,000 visitors annually and create 1,520 jobs, Pawlowski said. The entire entertainment district, once built out, is projected to attract up to 4 million visitors and create 7,450 jobs. The arena will have 8,500 seats for hockey games and 10,000 seats for concerts and other events like trade shows, circuses and high school graduation ceremonies. The outlying areas of Macungie and Emmaus were already among the fastest growing areas in the State of Pennsylvania. Those suburban communities have been the strongest real estate markets in the Lehigh Valley over the past few years. With the redevelopment of Downtown Allentown, the future is bright both for Allentown and the rest of the Valley.

ZIP Codes: 18102, 18103, 18104, 18106

Location Characteristics: The third largest city in Pennsylvania, Allentown is vibrant with culture, a beautiful parks system, rich history and a bright future. Allentown and the cities of Bethlehem and Easton make up the bulk of the Lehigh Valley, which is the third largest metropolitan area in the state. Adjacent to main arteries such as Interstates 78 and 476 and State Route 22, Allentown is central to several of the Northeast's and Mid-Atlantic's larger metropolitan areas: 55 miles from Philadelphia, 96 miles from New York City, 75 miles from Wilmington, 85 miles from Harrisburg, and 152 miles from Baltimore.

Allentown was originally incorporated as Northamptontown; German settlers played a key role in its development. The city later adopted the name of its founder, Colonial Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice William Allen. Allentown contributed to several aspects of American history. After the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 George Washington had no hope of saving Philadelphia from the British. The Liberty Bell and the bells of Christ Church were secretly removed to be hidden in Zion's Church. Today visitors can experience a bit of history in the Liberty Bell Shrine Museum located in Zion's Church. Call 610-435-4232 or visit www.libertybellmuseum.org for more information.

Located at 432 W. Walnut Street, the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum's new 30,000 square foot headquarters is a state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility that houses one of the finest historical research libraries in the state of Pennsylvania. The Heritage Museum includes four galleries with more than 10,000 square feet of exhibits. For exhibit and event schedules, phone 610-435-1074 or visit www.lchs.museum.

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