Is Costco Still Coming to Lower Macungie?

The $140 million Hamilton Crossings shopping center in Lower Macungie—set to feature the area's first Costco—will be up for an important vote at next week's East Penn School Board meeting, according to a WFMZ report.

The school board will be the first of three government bodies asked to approve a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan to help pay for the project.

A TIF is an economic tool to help develop a site that requires a large amount of money to pay up-front costs. In this case, the costs involve removing waste from iron mining and addressing stormwater issues before the land can be developed.

Ideally, the school district, Lower Macungie Township and Lehigh County will each approve their portion of the TIF. The school board meets Monday night.

Lehigh County commissioners discussed the TIF this week and will vote on it May 22.

Plans for Hamilton Crossings were detailed at a Lower Macungie Township meeting last November.

Developers could break ground on the 63-acre shopping center this year with Costco projected to open in 2014.

The shopping center is expected to have about 25 restaurants and stores, with Costco and Target as anchors. 

The shopping center would be at Hamilton Boulevard and the Route 222 Bypass. Krocks Road runs through the middle of it.

Hamilton Crossings will have two and a half miles of walking and biking paths, as well as gathering spots with park benches and tables.

Jeremy Fogel of Plymouth Meeting-based developers the Goldenberg Group has told township supervisors that Hamilton Crossings will have a "town center" feel similar to the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley.