- Crews are demolishing the former headquarters of The Morning Call newspaper in downtown Allentown
- City Center plans to build a 231-unit apartment complex in its place
- Morning Call employees were pushed out of the building in 2020 by Tribune Publishing
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Demolition crews look to be almost done bringing down the longtime home of The Morning Call newspaper.
Only a few walls remained standing last week amid large piles of rubble at the former headquarters at Sixth and Turner streets.
The Morning Call operated in the building for 37 years until 2020, when its owner, Tribune Publishing, permanently pushed employees out amid the coronavirus pandemic. Employees have worked remotely ever since.
The former Morning Call building "had served its purpose. It’s time for that site to do something more for the city than it did the last couple of years as they started to close down shop at that location.”
Jack Reilly, City Center project manager
The building that originally housed The Morning Call for nearly 100 years, at Sixth and Linden streets, remains and now houses Community Services for Children.
City Center, the developer behind many downtown projects and properties, bought the building in 2016 and acted as the newspaper’s landlord for several years.
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City Center Project Manager Jack Reilly said demolition started about three months ago and will continue a little longer.
City Center now is working to replace the building with an apartment complex.
'Time for that site to do something more'
Once the site is cleared, crews will get to work building a five-story complex with 231 housing units around an outdoor courtyard.
The project also includes adding a parking lot and a playground at Community Services for Children’s Learning Hub.
That complex could be ready for residents by late 2025, Reilly said, though he cautioned that timeline could change.
“It’s time for that site to do something more for the city than it did the last couple of years as they started to close down shop at that location.”
City Center Project Manager Jack Reilly
City Center is “excited” to be leading yet another project at a prime location in downtown Allentown, Reilly said.
The Morning Call’s former headquarters “was a big, monolithic building there, and it had served its purpose,” Reilly said. “It’s time for that site to do something more for the city than it did the last couple of years as they started to close down shop at that location.”
The building, which housed the paper's newsroom and production facility, opened in 1983 on the site of what was the company's parking garage.
It later was expanded to add an expanded building for The Morning Call's then-new presses.