Founded in 1979, and based in a former Mack Trucks plant, Allentown Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that champions manufacturing in the City of Allentown. Through our history, we’ve been an early adopter of trends such as business incubation, coworking, and most importantly, a strengthening of urban manufacturing.

AEDC is comprised of Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, Urban Made, and Urban Sites Programs. These three core initiatives allow us to help businesses grow, receive the support they need, and find a home in Allentown.

Our mission is to make Allentown the best place to grow a manufacturing business. We accomplish our mission through a range of activities:

• Redeveloping vacant and underutilized industrial sites, returning them to productive use
• Managing rehabilitated industrial properties to house the best employers in the city
• Incubating businesses and cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Actively engaging with the city’s manufacturing businesses
• Deploying economic development financing programs to drive business growth and physical improvement of the City’s manufacturing buildings

AEDC has played a part in virtually all of the larger redevelopment projects in Allentown, from simply pairing sites with developers, to performing initial preparation and site assembly to being the at-risk developer and nearly everything in between.

Here is a sample of some of the projects we have played a part in:

Bridgeworks Enterprise Center (1989): Following AEDC’s purchase of the former Mack Trucks Plant 4A, AEDC performed a complete renovation of the 64,000-square-foot building into a manufacturing incubator.

The Donley Center (1997): AEDC acquired the former headquarters of Lehigh Cement, located in the 700 block of Hamilton Street that is now home to the Lehigh Carbon Community College Allentown (LCCC) campus, and performed a total building renovation. For a period of time, AEDC occupied the 7th floor of the building and leased portions of the building to LCCC. Ultimately, LCCC occupied the entire building and purchased it from AEDC.

Butz Corporate Center (2006): AEDC assembled the real estate to provide site control for Butz to develop Phase I of their new office building, getting the company to commit to moving their headquarters to Allentown. AEDC also provided some assistance with grant administration. The site at 9th and Hamilton streets is now home to the Alvin H. Butz Co., Discover Lehigh Valley, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Stoudt Financial Services, among others.

America On Wheels Museum (2008): AEDC purchased the former A&B meat packing plant at Front and Hamilton Streets, as well as surrounding properties known as Lehigh Landing. AEDC performed several rounds of environmental remediation and selective demolition of functionally obsolete structures. Subsequently, AEDC assisted America on Wheels in grant writing and grant administration to help construct a 61,500-square-foot transportation museum on a former industrial site along the Lehigh River waterfront.

City Center Three (2014): AEDC prepared a formal request for proposals to identify interested developers for this site. City Center was selected as the developer for the site, and in very short order erected the City Center Three building.

Klein Building (2019): ACR completed renovation work on the adaptive reuse of the former Klein Building in the spring of 2019. Prior to ACR’s purchase from AEDC in 2019, the 24,000-square-foot brick building had sat vacant for decades. The mixed-use project converted the existing three-story building into seven luxury apartments and included an 8,000-square-foot single-story addition. The additional provided for the expansion and relocation of RB Collection to Allentown. RB Collection is a classic and antique automobile restoration facility that also offers tours in cooperation with America on Wheels Museum located directly across Front Street.

Donald M. Bernhard
Chairman
Community Development Director
Downtown Allentown Community
Development Initiative

Vincent Tallarico
Vice Chairman
Vice President, Heart and Vascular Center
Lehigh Valley Health Network

Matthew B. Green
Treasurer
Chief Information Officer
PPL Electric Utilities

John G. Englesson
Secretary
Principal, EVP / CSO Integrity SBS

Don Cunningham
President & CEO, LVEDC

Edward Roma
Operations Project Director
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.

David Quier
VP of Transmission & Substations
PPL Electric Utilities

Edward Dougherty
SVP & Chief Business Development Officer
Lehigh Valley Health Network

The Honorable Matthew Tuerk
Mayor, City of Allentown

Frank Kane
Director, Community & Economic
Development
Lehigh County

Daryl Hendricks
Allentown City Council

Susan E. Youngs
Executive Director, Commercial Banking
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank

James K. Harbaugh
Executive Director, Global Real Estate
Bristol Myers Squibb, Retired