New homes slated for vacant property in Catasauqua

Catasauqua could see the start of construction of eight homes on vacant property at 14th and Pearl streets.

Benjamin Hoffman, owner of Greenwood Builders LLC of the Lehigh Valley, bought the site, which covers seven lots, from the borough for $150,000. Hoffman said he is in the process of submitting permits to develop the property for residential use.

“We did have a choice to do some apartments, but we are going to do smaller single-family homes,” Hoffman said.

For the first part of the project, Hoffman is looking to build eight homes, which would be about 1,500 square feet and have three bedrooms and 2 ½ baths. Prices will be in the $205,000 to $210,000 range, he said. He will subdivide one lot.

“We have quite a bit of infrastructure work to do,” Hoffman said.

He anticipates starting construction in early June and delivering the first two homes by late fall.

This marks the first project in which the company bought the land and is also developing it as Greenwood Builders, Hoffman said.

Greenwood Builders, a spinoff of R&S Hoffman Builders, has an office in South Whitehall Township, he said.

The lots, zoned residential, total 1.6 acres and have stayed vacant for years, with the borough originally considering the land for its community fire station.

Ultimately, the borough decided to have the property appraised and sold before the market crashed, which prompted the borough to wait a bit longer before trying to market it, said Vincent Smith, borough council president for Catasauqua.

“Homes are what we would like to see there because we want to broaden our tax base,” Smith said. “This is just another piece in the puzzle of getting Catasauqua moving forward.”

The borough used NAI Summit Commercial Real Estate Services of South Whitehall Township, represented by vice president Jay Haines, who acted as a marketing consultant.

NAI Summit and Haines also worked with the borough on the FL Smidth/Iron Works project, which is moving toward the first part of construction. The project would bring mixed-use development to vacant properties in the borough, with the hope of rejuvenating the downtown business district.
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Resource: http://www.lvb.com