Longacre and the CEO of his lender, Mark Callazzo of Alpha Funding Solutions, plan a middle-market housing project for the millennials they believe will be central to a new Atlantic City.
From PressOfAtlanticCity.com:
LPMG Companies, a developer known for reviving Philadelphia neighborhoods, plans to do the same in Atlantic City, beginning with a $3 million transformation of the historic Morris Guards Armory building on New York Avenue.
John Longacre, LPMG president, said he’s planning to create 28 to 32 apartments on the upper floors of the 1901 structure, built by wealthy Civil War veteran Col. Daniel Morris for a military and social club.
Longacre and the CEO of his lender, Mark Callazzo of Alpha Funding Solutions, plan a middle-market housing project for the millennials they believe will be central to a new Atlantic City.
“I’ve always felt Atlantic City doesn’t have anything for the middle market, people who are average Joes looking for entertainment and amenity-based services,” Longacre said. “Everything’s either high-end or low-end, and nothing in the middle.”
Callazzo, who also owns the Atlantic City Bottle Co. spirits shop and its Iron Room restaurant in the city’s Chelsea Heights section, said he thinks “five years from now, Atlantic City will be an entirely different place.”
“Kind of what attracted me to the project and John doing it is my bar and kitchen staffers are all in their early 20s to early 30s and most of them live outside the island,” Callazzo said. “They all say there’s not really a cool, safe, affordable place for them to live in town.”
He said he knew Longacre from working on projects together in Philadelphia and suggested the armory project would be great for LPMG. “Architecturally, it’s a great building with a lot of potential.”
Longacre said the ground floor of the 30,000-square-foot building “is screaming for some amenity-based use.” He said he has some great brands in Philadelphia in mind for it, probably including something in food service.
He’d also like to take advantage of the great height of the floors to create some bi-level units.
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