EASTON, Pa. (WLVT) - The northwest corner of South Third Street and Larry Holmes Drive has been vacant for two years. It used to be the home to Days Inn, but after it closed, the City of Easton bought the site and tore down the building, making room for one of the biggest projects in the city's history.
"It is definitely transformative," said Mayor Sal Panto. "It's a good word, because what it replaced was not what we want Easton to be."
The property on 185 South Third Street was intended to be the new home for the Da Vinci Science Center, but plans fell through last year. Panto said the city didn't feel comfortable as the project changed over time.
"We just didn't want to give up a three-acre prime real estate site for a center that wasn't gonna generate any tax dollars," he said.
The city asked for other developers to come up with ideas and created a committee of residents to recommend the best proposal.
"As an ordinary citizen with absolutely no experience whatsoever working in local government in my life, it encouraged me to want to actually be a part of something like this in the future," said committee member Barbara Milewski.
The committee recommended a project called "The Confluence" by Bethlehem-based Peron Development and Easton-based USA Architects. Milewski, a resident of Easton for 20 years, said there was intense deliberation when choosing the best proposal.
"We had a lot of very, very thoughtful comments that were made. The proposals were different, but nonetheless, when we weighed all of the options, we found this one to probably meet the needs of our citizens best," she said.
"It's a very prominent corner and really will set the stage for the sort of the new entry sequence into Easton," said John Callahan, Peron's director of development, "so it's a confluence because it's where the rivers come together, but it's a confluence because it's where we expect a lot of people to come together."
"This will be a magnificent front door for the city as people come down the hill," Panto said.
The $70 million project will feature three buildings and a public plaza. The six-story building closest to the corner could feature either a hotel or office space with retail on the first floor. Another building would be a studio for local artists, and the third building features more retail space, 12,000 square feet for an entertainment tenant like a movie theater, and apartments. Developers say the project could include up to 240 units.
"[It's] bringing a lot of people on the street, a lot of people downtown, discretionary income that are going to support the restaurants, support the retail, and continue to build a thriving kind of arts community in Easton," Callahan said.
"We have a beautiful historic city," Panto said. "We have great architecture, but if we don't have people, it's just a Hollywood set."
"What we do want to do is move forward and embrace the future without leaving behind all the wonderful things that make Easton such a special place," Callahan said.
The city will now work on selling the property to Peron. The project will create at least 700 construction jobs and more than 500 permanent jobs once it's complete. Developers estimate the project will bring in more than a million dollars in tax revenue for the city.
"For us, it was an opportunity not to reinvent the wheel, but like, this is the vision that Easton has for itself," Callahan said. "How can we build a project that complements that vision that people have? Because, if in the end, this is what Easton wants for itself, it's more likely to be a more sustainable development over time."
To see the project in more detail, you can see the developer's presentation HERE.