HARRISBURG — Lame duck Lehigh County Sen. Pat Browne has filed a bill in Harrisburg to sell 195 acres of Allentown State Hospital property to City Center Investment Corp., led by developer J.B. Reilly, for $5.5 million.
The move comes after the previously planned sale of the property via a competive bid process failed to produce a qualified bid.
And the state Department of General Services, which owns the property, is behind the new initiative to sell to City Center.
“We are in support of this bill and we are pleased that the senator was able to approach us with this legislation,” DGS spokesman Troy Thompson said.
The bill proposing the sale was filed without public notice earlier this week. It calls for the repeal of a 2019 law that laid out the competitive sale process.
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The two parcels involved in Browne’s bill total about 195 acres in Allentown and Bethlehem. A provision in the bill precludes any future installation of a gambling facility on the property.
Browne, a 28-year veteran lawmaker in Harrisburg and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was defeated in the Republican primary election earlier this year by Jarrett Coleman, an airline pilot with no statewide political experience.
A statement issued by the office of Browne, a Republican, and co-signed by Democratic Rep. Mike Schlossberg, said “After an open bidding process and considerable review of available options, the Department of General Services and the Allentown State Hospital Committee made the decision” to sell the site to City Center.
It identified the organization as ”the most successful developer in Allentown’s modern history” and said its “knowledge and outstanding success in redeveloping challenged sites within the city make them the most qualified entity to undertake this promising task.”
Schlossberg said both of the bids received in the competitive process were “non conforming.”
A City Center spokesman said that if the sale bill is enacted into law, City Center “will immediately start working with city planners to develop a project that creates various housing options, public green space, retail, jobs and local tax revenue for the City and Allentown School District.”
This story will be updated. Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com
