One of the most exciting, and boldest, Allentown projects is underway. Allentown II Apartments is a new building at 15 Allen Street that will bring apartments and retail space to the eastern end of Allen across from the new medical school. Significant portions of the front façade of the now-demolished building on the property will be reinstalled as part of the project. Huamei Wang is developing the building and Adam Sokol of ASAP is architect.

The Preservation Board approved plans to demolish a two-story building on the site last year on the condition that the front façade be incorporated into the proposed new building. Face brick, cast stone trim including decorative surrounds, cornices, banding, door and window jambs, sills and headers, and other similar element, and the original windows on the second floor were salvaged.

The new building will contain ten apartments, ground floor commercial space, and one of the funkiest stairways in the city (bottom image). Tan fiber cement panels are proposed to match the rebuilt front facade- up to the level of the demolished building along the east façade and for just a portion of the west facade. The balance of the contemporary addition will be gray.