A new downtown Bethlehem apartment complex is planned to rise where the former Walnut Street parking garage once stood.
But some members of the Bethlehem Historic Architecture Review Board said that the seven-story building would be too tall, and asked the developer and architect to go back to the drawing board.
Ironside Lofts, if approved, will occupy part of the former Walnut Street garage, which was demolished last year. Also occupying part of the space — which takes up nearly an entire city block — is a smaller, newly constructed parking garage which is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
The historic review board declined to recommend the architectural plans for the new replacement garage, but City Council overrode their decision in late 2023, giving the parking authority the right to move forward with their plans.
Stuart Johnson, principal architect with Minno Wasko who represented the developer, Larken Associates, said plans for the building incorporate “thoughtful” design elements that match other historic buildings downtown, like a red brick facade with cast stone cornice lines.
The first five stories would have a brick facade with large windows, with gray vertical fiber cement panels on the sixth and seventh floor, which Johnson said is designed to minimize the perceived height of the building. The seventh floor would be set back by between eight and 10 feet, which also would minimize the building’s perceived height.
The building would contain 108 apartment units in total — including 60 one-bedroom and 48 two-bedroom units — as well as storefronts on the first floor for retail or restaurants and a “boutique hotel-style lobby” for residents. It is constructed in a U-shape, creating a private courtyard for the building’s residents to use.
“We are pleased to share our vision for redevelopment here,” Johnson said. “It will create an attractive, well designed, well proportioned and scaled building.”
Board members praised the architectural details of the building but said it was too tall for the historic district.
“It is a gorgeous building, it is stunning, there is no doubt about it, I think it is too tall,” board member Diana Hogdson said.
Several board members, too, said they feared any recommendation they gave could be overrode by City Council, because council overrode their recommendation for the new garage building just next door. The new garage will be around 13 feet taller than and half as wide as the former Walnut Street garage. Some local residents of Bethlehem showed up in droves at City Council and other city board meetings to oppose the new garage.
“Architecturally, this building is appropriate in terms of material, in terms of style architectural detailing, use, it is an appropriately designed building. We can go on record and say it is too big and we will, I just don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater here. We have a lot of good things going on, it is just in the shadow of a tainted history and a lot of bitter and bad will from community members,” said board member Nik Nikolov.
Johnson said that making the apartment building one story shorter would threaten its financial viability, but that they would explore the possibility of further setting back the seventh floor to minimize its appearance.
“We think it really reads as a 5-story building, but we could look at creating a stepback to further break down the scale of it,” Johnson said.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.
