Demolition, sale of Allentown State Hospital still sought, Wolf administration says

The Pennsylvania Department of General Services still intends to demolish the Allentown State Hospital buildings and sell the 195-acre property.It just hasn’t decided when, a spokesman told The Morning Call Friday.The Wolf administration’s response comes a day after Allentown developer Nat Hyman withdrew his demand for an immediate court order against the demolition of Allentown State Hospital. In return, state authorities agreed to notify him ahead of any decision to proceed.A judge approved the agreement Friday.Hyman insisted that he only agreed to the stipulation because he believes it postpones the demolition of the buildings.Developer Nat Hyman sues state to stop Allentown State Hospital demolitionThe stipulation says: The Department of General Services “is not moving forward at the present time with a sale of the Allentown State Hospital or demolition of the buildings located at the Allentown State Hospital.”That does not signal a change of heart or course, department spokesman Troy Thompson said Friday. It means only that state authorities have not begun the process of demolishing the buildings or selling the property, he said.“None of the activities have been affected,” Thompson said. Hyman’s lawsuit, he added, was “premature.”Hyman accused the department of trying to “save face.”“I don’t care what they say, all I care is what they do. And as far as I’m concerned, for the time being, there’s no demolition,” Hyman said. “If that changes, we’ll go right back to the judge.”State Sen. Pat Browne, R-Allentown, and State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Allentown, said the stipulation merely provided for public notice.“Nothing has changed except for a stipulation to give notice to the public, which we would have insisted on anyway,” Browne said.In November, the department announced plans to pay at least $15 million to demolish 38 buildings and structures on the east Allentown property, 1600 Hanover Ave.At the time, Browne said demolition could begin as early as this spring. It’s unclear why it has not.The November document was to notify contractors of a coming demolition job, Thompson said, not a formal request for bids on doing it.There is no timeframe for a formal request, he said, but the Department of General Services is “working as quickly as we can within our process to get the property sold.”According to Thursday’s Commonwealth Court order, the Department of General Services must give Hyman at least 30 days’ notice before it enters into an agreement of sale of the Allentown State Hospital or an agreement for the demolition of some or all of its buildings.If the department decides to request bids from demolition contractors, it must notify Hyman the same day. His lawsuit to block demolition would resume at the point of notification.The department continues to believe demolition will make the property easier to redevelop into something creating substantial tax revenue.“The buildings are not in the best of shape, and I can’t imagine how hard it would be and how much it would cost to retrofit them,” Thompson said.The state Historical and Museum Commission’s office of historical preservation felt differently. In March 2018, it requested General Services to examine “alternatives for adaptive reuse of the buildings as part of the environmental process and disposition of the plan.”Many of the buildings are in “average condition” and “may be viable for rehabilitation and reuse,” wrote Douglas C. McLearen, chief of the Preservation Office’s division of archaeology and protection.Thompson said representatives of both offices walked through the buildings earlier this year, and that “they are in agreement we can do the demolition as long as we make an effort to preserve history.”The hospital, which features a main building constructed in 1904, has cost taxpayers $2.2 million annually in maintenance since its closure in 2010.Preservationists point to what they see as historic value and architectural beauty in their effort to save the property from demolition. More than 5,300 people have signed an online petition to preserve the buildings.In late 2017, the Legislature authorized General Services to do direct sale with Doylestown-based TCA Properties for a negotiated fair market price. The property is currently appraised at $2.57 million.Under a 1929 state law, General Services cannot sell or buy property without legislative approval. That approval can be in a bill that requires a public bidding process to get the best price on the open market, or in a direct sale, or conveyance, to a specific entity.The department and TCA have not yet entered into an agreement of sale, but “we retain our authority under legislation to move forward with the sale,” Thompson said. He wouldn’t comment further on the status of negotiations with TCA. David Ali, owner of TCA, did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.Hyman, who has rehabilitated other historic properties around Allentown into market-rate apartments, in January offered to purchase the property and preserve all of its buildings.From January: Developer Nat Hyman offers to buy Allentown State Hospital, preserve its buildingsThough his lawsuit is stayed, Hyman said he will continue to fight to permanently ban demolition.Morning Call reporter Andrew Wagaman can be reached at 610-820-6764 or awagaman@mcall.com
Source: Morningcall