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LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP — The majority of the Hamilton Crossings shopping center in Lower Macungie Township is still on track to open July 24. But complications beneath the Lehigh Valley's first Costco site have pushed back construction until April and its opening until this fall, according to Tim Harrison, who's developing the $140 million shopping center along with the Goldenberg Group. Harrison gave a presentation to about 200 people Wednesday during a luncheon hosted by the Western Lehigh and East Penn Chambers of Commerce at Brookside Country Club. He said the shopping center has generated 495 construction jobs and is expected to generate 619 full-time jobs and 301 part-time jobs, nearly all hired from the Lehigh Valley. Harrison explained that the Hamilton Crossings site, along Krocks Road between the Route 222 bypass and Hamilton Boulevard, was once an open pit iron mine. Surveys there revealed silted sediment with the consistency of peanut butter — mine wash — that would undermine the structural integrity of anything built upon it. Developers reconfigured the site plan to avoid the most significant mine wash on the southern end of the 570,000-square-foot shopping center. The Costco pad is on the far eastern end of the property, also affected by the mine wash. Contractors created a 280-hole grid for proof drilling, Harrison said, in which they search for voids in the earth and fill them with a pressurized grout, or fluid concrete, solution. As an extra precaution, they will lay the Costco building slab on 200 micropiles that descend to bedrock. Building construction is expected to begin April 15, Harrison said. The store should open in September or October. Besides Costco and Target, which own their lots, shopping center tenants include the Lehigh Valley's first Whole Foods and Nordstrom Rack and the second DSW and Ulta Cosmetics. Harrison said the shopping center is 98 percent leased. Developers are finalizing "significant" deals with a few local businesses, he said. Harrison said Wednesday he also has a development option for property north of the Route 222 bypass and is working on plans now. Ron Eichenberg, president of the Western Lehigh Chamber and a former Lower Macungie commissioner, called Harrison a "gentleman developer" who's creating a "signature entryway" and destination for the township. Harrison is from Staten Island, N.Y. The Goldenberg Group is based in Blue Bell, Montgomery County.
LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP — The majority of the Hamilton Crossings shopping center in Lower Macungie Township is still on track to open July 24.
But complications beneath the Lehigh Valley's first Costco site have pushed back construction until April and its opening until this fall, according to Tim Harrison, who's developing the $140 million shopping center along with the Goldenberg Group.
Harrison gave a presentation to about 200 people Wednesday during a luncheon hosted by the Western Lehigh and East Penn Chambers of Commerce at Brookside Country Club. He said the shopping center has generated 495 construction jobs and is expected to generate 619 full-time jobs and 301 part-time jobs, nearly all hired from the Lehigh Valley.
Harrison explained that the Hamilton Crossings site, along Krocks Road between the Route 222 bypass and Hamilton Boulevard, was once an open pit iron mine. Surveys there revealed silted sediment with the consistency of peanut butter — mine wash — that would undermine the structural integrity of anything built upon it.
Developers reconfigured the site plan to avoid the most significant mine wash on the southern end of the 570,000-square-foot shopping center. The Costco pad is on the far eastern end of the property, also affected by the mine wash. Contractors created a 280-hole grid for proof drilling, Harrison said, in which they search for voids in the earth and fill them with a pressurized grout, or fluid concrete, solution.
As an extra precaution, they will lay the Costco building slab on 200 micropiles that descend to bedrock.
Building construction is expected to begin April 15, Harrison said. The store should open in September or October.
Besides Costco and Target, which own their lots, shopping center tenants include the Lehigh Valley's first Whole Foods and Nordstrom Rack and the second DSW and Ulta Cosmetics.
Harrison said the shopping center is 98 percent leased. Developers are finalizing "significant" deals with a few local businesses, he said.
Harrison said Wednesday he also has a development option for property north of the Route 222 bypass and is working on plans now.
Ron Eichenberg, president of the Western Lehigh Chamber and a former Lower Macungie commissioner, called Harrison a "gentleman developer" who's creating a "signature entryway" and destination for the township.
Harrison is from Staten Island, N.Y. The Goldenberg Group is based in Blue Bell, Montgomery County.