Hammes, the leader in healthcare facilities development, joins 24 other extraordinary developments from around the world as finalists for the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 2017 Global Awards for Excellence for a project that revitalized a Pennsylvania community.
The ULI is widely recognized as one of the land use industry’s most prestigious award programs. This year’s finalists include three located in Asia, two in Europe, and 20 in North America.
Hammes was selected on behalf of the Downtown Allentown Revitalization District located in Allentown, Pennsylvania as the developer and owner of the 10.3-acre site. The zone of the revitalization is a 5.3-acre block containing the PPL Center, a 10,000-seat state-of- the-art multipurpose sports arena, with an integrated mixed-use development including retail, dining, health/wellness, hotel, commercial office, two historic buildings, and structured parking.
The redevelopment zone, along the downtown riverfront encompasses approximately 125 acres and one city block. The vision for the arena was to offer a platform for future revitalization projects, jobs and economic development to the City of Allentown and the Greater Lehigh Valley.
The project spurred an additional ongoing development and investment of $400 million in office, retail and commercial buildings downtown, resulted in an increase in state tax revenue for 2017, and prompted an additional $1 billion of proposed investment from private developers.
The project has led to over a dozen shops, more than 300 apartments, a new hotel, a fourth office building under construction, and more than 2,000 new workers in the district. It is expected by 2018 there will be nearly 500 new residents living downtown.
“We are honored to have been selected as a finalist for this notable award,” said Chris Kay, president and COO at Hammes. “Hammes has contributed to the growth of the fastest-growing city in Pennsylvania. We are very proud to see how this project helped revitalize the community.”
A group of winners chosen from the finalists will be announced in October at the 2017 ULI Fall Meeting in Los Angeles.
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