Allentown is named after Lewis F. Allen who came to Buffalo in April 1827 to serve as Corporate Secretary and financial manager of an insurance company. Allentown is the first neighborhood north of the Downtown Buffalo core. Its also the first Buffalo neighborhood to experience major revitalization and is known for its community of artists, bohemian and hipster culture, and for a strong commitment to preserving its historic building stock. Allentown is also Buffalo’s premier area for nightlife, music, dining, and antique shopping.

Not surprisingly this is also one of Buffalo best urban districts. As one of the few Buffalo neighborhoods from the 1860s-1900s that is still in tact, Allentown has a great mixed-use and compact feel. As it is only about a mile from Dwtn, I consider this Buffalo’s most walkable neighborhood. All things considered Allentown is pretty moderately priced considering these amenities.

To truly become a great neighborhood Allentown needs more in-fill housing to increase its density (currently sitting at just short of 9K residents per sq mile), redevelop the parking lots sitting at its border with Downtown, add more parking amenities, improve its ADA curbs at about 25% of its intersections, and be a more conducive district to families.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Allentown is located just north of Dwtn. The median distance is about 1 mile allowing one to walk there. Also very convenient transit and bike access. Decent public transit access to the University of Buffalo.
* Great public transit access.
* Solid bike infrastructure including a couple north-south bike lanes and good bike share coverage.
* Great racial diversity and solid economic.
* Generally a good array of walkable schools within or near Allentown with pretty good ratings.
* Good array of rental options generally at moderate prices. studios & 1-beds lease btwn 900-1.6K, 2&3-beds 1.2K-2.5K. Good amount of affordable housing here as well.
* Nice mix of for-sale housing options.  1-bed condos that sell around 200K, 2-beds range anywhere btwn 200K-500K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 300K-800K.
* Great array of historic architecture ranging from the Post Bellum period to the early 20th century.
* Wonderful cultural amenities including many restaurants, bars, cafes, a couple breweries, many live music venues & night clubs, great access to Dwtn’s theater district located a block away, several historic sites, and several art galleries.
* Good retail amenities as well including a supermarket, a couple drug stores, several boutiques & consignment stores, banks, plenty of unique stores & antique shops, a hardware store, good array of gyms & dessert shops, a local post office, several churches and Buffalo General Hospital. This is certainly Buffalo’s most mixed use neighborhood.
* Overall very good urban massing and streetscaping. Southern edge, however, has a lot of parking lots and underutilized spaces next to Dwtn. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* So  density. Less than other North and West Buffalo neighborhoods.
* Generational diversity is pretty limited. Pretty few households with Children here. Most residents are young adults.
* Tree canopy is good but not as good as other North Buffalo neighborhoods.
* A couple nice smaller parks but no larger parks here.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure but about 1/4 of all intersections are missing ADA curbs.