The Allentown Diocese has sold some of its property in Lower Macungie and Upper Saucon townships to help compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse.
The diocese sold 118 acres on Flint Hill Road in Upper Saucon for $3.55 million and 53 acres on North Krocks Road across from Hamilton Crossings in Lower Macungie for $7.5 million, the diocese said in a Jan. 8 news release. With the land sales, the diocese finished paying off a loan taken out to fund a compensation program for victims of clergy sexual abuse.
Allentown was among seven Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses to establish compensation funds in the wake of a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report that revealed efforts to hide decades of sexual abuse by hundreds of priests. The report named 37 priests from the Allentown Diocese, which includes more than 252,000 Catholics in Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties. The diocese added another 15 or so to the list.
Both of the Lehigh County properties have been on the market for more than a year, and the diocese previously said their sale would go toward the victims fund.
In total, 97 victims have been paid about $16 million, spokesperson Paul Wirth said. Six additional people applied to be compensated through the fund and ended up rejecting the offer, and another three claims were deemed ineligible for compensation.
In Upper Saucon Township, the property on Flint Hill Road is slated to become 102 residential units as Estates at Saucon Valley.
Lower Macungie hasn’t received any official plans for the Krocks Road site, which is zoned for commercial use. Township planners have always conceived of the property’s development as complementary to Hamilton Crossings, Planning Director Nate Jones said.
Representatives for the buyer, Lower Macungie Mixed Use Development, could not be reached. The site was considered one of the diocese’s most valuable properties. It was assessed in 2020 at $8.8 million.
“We accepted the offer of $7.5 million, which was ‘as is,’ and not contingent on waiting for any required land use approvals, which could take years,” Wirth said in an email. “This allowed us to settle on the land expeditiously so we could generate cash for compensation to victims and survivors of abuse.”
The diocese previously owned more than 60 acres across the street from the Krocks Road site. In 2015, developers paid nearly $14 million for what would become Hamilton Crossings.
Morning Call reporter Michelle Merlin can be reached at 610-820-6533 or at mmerlin@mcall.com.
