Two firms partner to build apartments in Lehigh Parkway

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A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for later this month on a new apartment complex in the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown.

Serfass Construction of North Whitehall Township and the Scully Co. of Jenkintown are partnering on the project to build two five-story buildings at 1649 Lehigh Parkway East, just north of the Regency Apartments off of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

It will have 160 units with a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.

The apartment buildings will feature a fitness center. There will also be a clubroom with a coffee bar and table games, a bike room, a pet washing and grooming station and an outdoor fire pit.

Rent will range from around $1,300 to around $2,200 per month.

Kevin Serfass of Serfass Construction said they were attracted to the spot because of its location within the Lehigh Parkway. He noted the property will provide views of the Little Lehigh Creek and easy access to hiking and biking as well as the city’s Frisbee golf course, which the apartments will be near.

He said the building they are constructing was designed by its architectural firm, Bonsall Shafferman, to fit into the setting.

“The overall construction is made to feel more like the natural setting around it so it will seem like it was always part of the park,” he said.

Jessica Scully of the Scully Co. noted that much of the new apartment buildings going up in the Allentown area are all in the city center area. This property gives their future tenants the option of living in a greener part of the city while still being very close to the restaurants and other amenities of the downtown.

“There’s a lot of great new product but all of it is in the downtown. Here you can just jump in your car and be downtown in minutes, but you have hiking and biking,” she said.

The Lehigh Parkway East apartments project is the first project the two companies are partnering on, but both said they hope to partner on more, similar projects in the region.

“We have a lot in common,” Serfass said. Both companies are third-generation, family-owned businesses with a similar culture.

With Serfass focusing on design build and Scully Co. focusing on apartment management, the partnership seems like a good fit, Scully said.

“We really clicked. They filled in that variable, that piece we needed that was so important,” she said.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held Nov. 19 at the site.