The new edition of the Lehigh Valley Commercial Real Estate Report highlights the latest activity in the marketplace and the addition of a new tool for locating available properties.
The cover article, “Lehigh Valley Plastics Industry is Breaking the Mold,” explores how the Lehigh Valley has become a center for plastics production, including production through recycling. 
The Lehigh Valley is home to 46 plastics product manufacturing establishments that collectively employ about 2,500 people. The region has about twice the employment concentration as the typical U.S. region and plastics jobs are growing at an annualized rate of 1.8%, about 2.5 times as fast as other employment in the Lehigh Valley’s growing economy.
Those manufacturers include longtime producers such as Lehigh Valley Plastics and Fuling, along with recent arrivals such as Axium Packaging, Pianca Packaging, Panda International, SR Packaging, and Schless Bottles. Ultra-Poly Corp., one of America’s five largest asset-based plastic recyclers, is planning another expansion that will add another 50 jobs and increase its Lehigh Valley workforce to 200.
“Those companies are choosing the Lehigh Valley because of our strategic location, growing workforce, and technical education partners training the talent needed for manufacturing to thrive here,” said Kristin Cahayla-Hoffman, Vice President of Business Development and Attraction at Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC).
Published each quarter by LVEDC, the Lehigh Valley Commercial Real Estate Report provides a detailed overview of industrial and office market activity, notable real estate transactions, and population and labor force trends. The newest edition covers data from the first quarter of 2024.
The digital version of the new issue can be downloaded here, and hard copies are available upon request.
The first quarter report shares information about LVEDC’s new “Find A Site” tool. The database and map on LVEDC’s website provides direct access to hundreds of industrial, office, land, and retail properties for sale or lease in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
The key activity occurring in the Lehigh Valley commercial real estate marketplace highlighted in the report includes:
- The Lehigh Valley Dairy building in Whitehall Township, vacant for 30 years, is being demolished to make way for redevelopment of the 10-acre site.
- The former Champion spark plugs property in Hellertown is being demolished to make room for a hospital proposed by Lehigh Valley Health Network.
- Skyline Investment Group is proposing to turn the former Dixie Cup factory in Wilson into a mixed-use development featuring 405 apartments.
- Lehigh Valley Industrial Park plans to buy 4 acres of industrial land in Bethlehem and donate it to a developer for construction of 120 housing units, one-third of which will be rented at market rate.