Allentown residents received a decisive vote from the city’s planning commission on Tuesday when the body denied a request by developer J.G. Petrucci to extend the deadline for a 146,000‑square‑foot flex warehouse at 1024 N. Bradford St. The decision matters because the vacant site sits next to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs’ stadium, a charter school, and the Lehigh River, making its ultimate use a direct concern for neighborhood traffic, employment and environmental impact.
According to mcall.com, Petrucci asked the commission to add an additional year to the warehouse’s construction timeline, even though the developer had also submitted plans in August to build a similarly sized data center on the same property. Commission Chair Christian Brown questioned the developer’s intent, asking, “What does the client want to do with the property? Is there any intent to develop a warehouse as it was approved?” After a heated discussion, the commission voted 3‑1 to deny the extension. Brown was the lone vote to grant it, while Commissioner Craig Beavers abstained.
The warehouse received initial approval in 2022, but the lot remains undeveloped. Petrucci’s parallel data center application, filed on Aug. 5—the same day the city council adopted stricter data‑center requirements—was rejected on Sept. 3 because data centers are not permitted under the city’s general industrial zoning rules. The developer appealed the denial to the Zoning Hearing Board, with a hearing set for Dec. 7, and a related complaint in Lehigh County Court is scheduled for Dec. 8.
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Becky Bradley testified against the extension, noting that “flex industrial warehouses can be anything from storage of materials to even more intensive uses like e‑commerce,” but they generate different employee and commercial‑vehicle impacts than a data center, which requires industrial substations and larger setbacks. The city’s updated data‑center ordinance, adopted in August, now limits such projects to one of three industrial districts, raises the minimum setback from “sensitive” uses from 200 to 500 feet, and mandates an informational meeting with the public before any formal hearings.
Attorney Karley Biggs, representing Petrucci, argued that the developer should not be forced to complete steps while the city and the developer remain in active litigation over the property’s intended use. The commission’s denial reflects the city’s effort to prevent the extension from being used as a holding strategy for a data center rather than demonstrating genuine progress on the warehouse.
What’s next: The Zoning Hearing Board will consider Petrucci’s appeal on Dec. 7, and a Lehigh County Court hearing on the zoning complaint is set for Dec. 8. Residents and stakeholders are encouraged to attend the required public informational meeting once the developer schedules it, as mandated by the revised ordinance.
Sources: mcall.com
