A Revolting Development

At the end of every episode of The Life Of Riley, Chester Riley would say "What a revolting development this turned out to be." If I was Dave Erdman, Editor of The Morning Call, I might have uttered those words at the History Museum on Blogger Night. The paper did everything right to promote the event. In addition to continuous notices in the hard copy paper, and the digital version, they offered free trial digital subscriptions, plus food and beverage for attending. It truly was a well done production. Never the less, not all the winning bloggers even attended, much less any general public. Despite all the publicity, the needle on the site counter for this blog hasn't moved. I make a point of listening to what is discussed in diners in the morning. The recent police raid on the stripper club garnished much more interest than the water lease. Interest in the news, either main stream or alternative, is minimum in this town. Half the population is in a social economic survival mode, which consumes their attention. The other remaining half is indifferent, at least to local affairs. Those of us that are interested in such things may have the problem requiring help.

Wimpy's Revenge

After some deliberation, Bernie O'Hare and I decided that we would solicit support for the 2013 blog contest. We would both do a post, and drafted Wimpy, as we did in 2012. I put the post up in early April, and placed Wimpy on my sidebar. Two days later, I asked Bernie about his post, and he replied, "I forgot, I'll do it." Although he never remembered, I never said anything, but didn't forget. It's nice for Bernie that I would grovel for our votes, while he could remain the dignified journalist. Bernie didn't attend the award ceremony last evening, but I volunteered to take his prize. If he acts quickly, he might still find it. It's in a city trash container near 6th and Chew.

The Real Neuweiler Story

A feature story in today's Morning Call omits the fact that several years ago the City of Allentown stole the brewery from the rightful owner. Just as merchants of Hamilton Street were never allotted the opportunity to benefit from city arranged grants or the NIZ, the former taxpaying owner of the brewery was never given any assistance. Mayor Pawlowski can't stand private investors, if he didn't give you a grant, you're not worth much. In the early 70's, the City and Redevelopment Authority gave control of the Neuweiler Brewery to a friend. Under the City's watch, windows were removed and exterior walls broken through to remove the brewing tanks and piping for scrap. All metal, wires and any object of value were crudely ripped out in an orgy of demolition. With a large opening in the back wall smashed out, the basement was used as a free landfill by a roofer.

What should be mentioned about the XXXX roofing property is the fact that when I was involved with the brewery property in front that the owner at one point had compiled evidence of the roofers illegal disposal of environmental hazards and that when the evidence was to be presented to the City that he was not only arrested, for issues regarding the building, but the evidence was just disregarded. That property would stockpile environmental hazards in the back and then when the pile got large enough a large dump truck with a front end loader would show up. A bunch of work would go on out back and "poof" no pile of garbage. Also, when he would do slate roofing (which is covered in petroleum) he would just dump it on the rear of the property and when the piles would get high, he would level the property off, even into the railbed in the rear. (anyone that doesn't believe me on this one, go take a walk on the rails behind the property you will see it). former caretaker of brewery property

 Still the building remained iconic, because of it's rich industrial architecture. In 2003 a New Jersey investor bought the building for over $200,000 in the condition shown in the photograph. The building has been in that condition since the late 70's. His hope was at some point the City would appreciate the landmark. and cooperate in its revival. He must have found the building citations from the Pawlowski administration mind-numbing; Can you image being held responsible for carnage committed by a previous owner under the City's watch? Mayor Pawlowski, afraid someone might want to invest private money in Allentown and pay real estate taxes, had the Neuweiler owner jailed when he came to Allentown to discuss the property. The city, through the Redevelopment Authority, then seized the brewery. The former Neuweiler garages, behind the brewery, were sold years ago to a roofer. A couple years ago the City purchased the roofer's property for close to a $million dollars, reuniting the parcel. The Morning Call story today is about the hope and potential of the site, but I thought you might want to know about the City's complicity in it's sordid past.

portions of this post are reprinted from May 2008
UPDATE: The following was received as a comment on June 14,2012, by the former caretaker of the Neuweiler property:The Neuweiler property has many many secrets hidden within it that the City does not know about environmentally. The bottling house along Front St at one point was cleaned up the DEP (state) and was an absolute disaster then. I remember a few years ago, as well as in the ‘80s, that they City made the comment about just tearing it down. I made myself a little phone call to them and needed to inform them that if they would demolish the building that they would have to completely rebuild the roads around the building and regrade the property seeing as the building is holding them up. Regarding the former owner of the larger buildings, the building was not actually purchased, the mortgage was. Mr. Kellner bought the mortgage in foreclosure. The owner, Hanna Industrial Properties, fell on hard times with the loss of his primary funding source. Once Mr. Kellner took over the property the City was giving him fines of thousands of dollars a month because of appearance issues with the property. I have a copy of the inspection report that the fines were based on, it is ridiculous. Since they took over have they done anything to alleviate the code violations that exist? Lead by example. The City actually took the property via eminent domain as the original site of the arena project. for some reason, their sights were then changed (no pun intended) to the Center Square one. The developer of the Arena fronted the near $1M to purchase the 16 W Liberty St property, the rear parcel, in the form of a loan to the Redevelopment Authority. They last year, defaulted on that loan. The last year that Mr. Kellner owned the property, the City even went as far as to demolish the iconic Neuweiler smokestack. How did they do this you may ask, they went back into the archives and decided to act on a raze or repair order from 1979, mind you the demolition occurred around 2007 or 8. We had an engineer come out and certify the structural integrity of the property as well and they demolished it anyway. I personally showed at least 20-30 real estate developers through this property in the almost 5 years that I was involved in it, most of them sent through City Hall or the county. Each one of them had the same thing to say, there is no money to be made there. There is no way with the amount it would cost to just renovate the building and convert it into anything that the rental that would be required to fund the project would be too high for the area. This is without the environmental issues. My question is, how is the City going to make this happen? My thought is that this is Phase 2 of the City's NIZ project, the arena being Phase 1. I also just took a look at the “study” that was done by cornerstone for the property and just right off the top of my head I find it very shady. There are parts of the building that were obvious issues that were omitted or made to be less than what they are. John P. Chapkovich

reprinted from July 2012

UPDATE May 2, 2013: Yesterday, The Morning Call reported that Ruckus Brewing is buying the Neuweiler property from the city for $1.7 million and will indeed have NIZ funds for it's redevelopment. Above I reprint my post from last year, outlining the City's complicity in distressing a property, and then stealing it.  molovinsky on allentown, providing the real story behind the shenanigans.

UPDATE 7:30a.m.:  Despite  The Morning Call's front page feature story sporting illustrations, pictures and charts,  Ruckus is nothing more than the hype of a 30 year old marketing promoter.  It has no brew pub experience,  no  real estate experience,  and a very limited distribution of it's contracted beer.  Their business appears to be a small marketing office in New York City, which already is featuring the Neuweiler Brewer's Hill Project on their website as an accomplishment. 

Allentown Gives Merchants Short Leash

Every time I see Peter Lewnes, he expresses some gratitude about how complimentary I've been about his stewardship of 7th Street. That's about to change. Pete has been designated manager for Hamilton Street, and it's new facade grants program. The initial investment by the donors is only $300,000, for grants up to $15,000,  but then again, there's not many merchants left. Pete mentioned that he will use the 1930 Victorian approach, which he uses on 7th Street. Put aside that victorian has nothing to do with 1930, but from spending time on 7th Street, I know what he means. Pete has all the buildings essentially treated the same. They're given a basic historic look, and a hand lettered business sign. I praised the program because the merchants of 7th Street were primarily upstart businesses on a low budget, more concerned with acquiring merchandize to sell, rather than exterior esthetics. Driving into Allentown on 7th Street,  the street looks quite presentable. In reality, this painted rose technique has a short shelve life, as does any painted exterior surface now a days. Besides a small inside OPEN sign, the merchants are not permitted neon or freedom in sign choices. City inspectors threaten the merchants for non-conforming signs. Can you imagine having told Max Hess or John Leh what kind of sign they had to use in our hey day? Can you imagine telling Hess and Leh what they should do for $15,000 in 2013 dollars.  Although the new facade grant program hasn't yet begun, the criterion already expressed says that we don't really want your success, just clean yourself up and behave.

Hamilton Street's Token Facade Grants

The other day I purchased a fleece sweatshirt in Archives, a store with urban fashions in the 600 block of Hamilton. The store is owned by New York Urban, located in the 700 Block. I could well be their only elderly Jewish customer, their wares being what I would call hip-hop. I'm sure that they were grateful for the sale, in that I was the only customer in the store. Today, The Morning Call reported that City Center Investments (J.B. Reilly) and PPL are providing $300,000 in facade grants for the remaining merchants of Hamilton Street, just beyond the NIZ zone.  Only a few years ago the city provided grants to many of these same stores, also for facade work, as reported then on this blog. One could conclude that shopping lacks on Hamilton Street for factors other than facade problems. There was a substantial amount of shopping on Hamilton Street, prior to the wholesale demolition for the arena. However, the Administration found both the merchandise and clientele not to their liking. Although these grants will not improve commerce on Hamilton Street, they will provide cover for the forced expulsion of the underclass.

The Union Terrace Train

The Conrail engine backs across Walnut Street, as it delivers a flatbed of large granite slaps and blocks to the Wentz Memorial Company, by 20th and Hamilton Streets. Years earlier, the spur route extended across Hamilton Street and terminated at the building across from school district stadium, now occupied by the park department. On it's run to Wentz's, it went through the auto junkyard, continued on past the now closed Allentown Metal Works, and crossed the trestle in Lehigh Parkway. At Union Terrace the track was next to the former ice skating pond, behind the WPA Amphitheater Stage Mound. This photograph was taken by Dave Latshaw in the 1979, and is part of the Mark Rabenold collection. Rabenold is a local train historian, specializing in Allentown's former branch lines.

reprinted from September 2011

The Train Of Lehigh Parkway

With the 15th Street Bridge closed, as people detour over the  Schreibers stone arch bridge,  few will be aware of the industrial past surrounding them. The Barber Quarry railroad branch line crossed the road, just south of the bridge. On the left was the Union Carbine's Linde plant, the concrete loading dock is still visible. Although the last train ran in the early 1980's, the wooden railroad trestle is still there, to the west and south of the bridge. The area is now used as part of the disc golf course. The photograph was taken by Dave Latshaw in 1976, and is part of the Mark Rabenold Collection.

revised from December 2010