Silk Mill Revitalization Project on Track

A late-1960s cinder block building at on North 13^th Street will be demolished “any week now,” city redevelopment authority director Gretchen Longenbach told Easton planning commissioners in an update on the project given Wednesday evening.

The building, deemed to have no historic value to the mostly 19^th century factory site, is to be razed to make room for the entrance to the complex as part of preparations for the site's revitalization, which includes plans for ground floor commercial space with apartments and condominiums on the upper floor.

The concrete building will be crushed bit by bit and the material reused on the site, she said.

At this point, it is unclear whether work will begin before or after the upcoming festival slated for September 24, but the demolition wouldn't interfere with the film festival anyway, she added.

The work will be paid for out of the $5 million the site has received in federal and state funding for its remediation to make it suitable and attractive to a developer for revitalization, Longenbach said.

A developers agreement has been signed by the city, and the preliminary work, which has been ongoing over the last two years, is nearly complete, she said.

“It's a very exciting time,” Longenbach said.

Once the building is removed, a main roadway will be added to the site. Eventually, this will become a dedicated city street, she said.

Essentially, that will complete the city's part of the project, and after that it will be up to the developer to begin building.

“Ambitiously, we're hoping to start construction in 2012,” Longenbach said, adding that the actual start date for construction will likely depend on PennDOT approval of the new road and intersection on North 13^th Street.