Category:Crest Plaza, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Crest Plaza shopping center is located to the west of Allentown, 1530 N Cedar Crest Blvd. It is outside of the city limits, located in South Whitehall Township. Today, it is dominated by a Target department store, with satellite stores and other buildings, along with attached storefronts.

Planning for Crest Plaza began in November 1958 when a 31-acre parcel was obtained by M H Goodmaan. The land was obtained in two pieces, the major one of 30 acres being obtained from Fred Jaindl and a smaller 1 acre one from Mr & Mrs Kenneth A Miller. Construction for the 23 store shopping center started in July 1959. The original design of the shopping center was an "L" shape, with two supermarkets (Food Fair, ACME Markets) anchoring both ends of the shopping center; an outdoor covered walkway connecting one end with another. Two 5 & 10 stores, W. T. Grant Company and an F W Woolworth would provide the major shopping for the development. Numerous storefronts of secondary stores would complete the center, along with a large parking lot for automobiles

Crest Plaza was the third shopping center built in Allentown, however, it was the first stand-alone one. The Parkway Shopping Center in southeast Allentown opened in October, 1959 on Lehigh street, however that was attached to an existing Food Fair supermarket and Merchants National Bank. The Allen Shopping Center at 15th & Allen Streets opened in 1959, and was also attached to a Food Fair supermarket. Crest Plaza was the first suburban shopping center, not located on an existing main road or a major city street. It was built on undeveloped farmland in the suburbs, with secondary roads for access.

In August 1960, Crest Plaza opened for business. It was a success, and over the decades, spurred additional development on Cedar Crest Boulevard, and also Walbert Avenue. Additional businesses were built around it, and a large office development was established to the east of it. Over time, the stores in it came and went, including W T Grant in 1975 and Woolworth in 1993. It also spurred development of single family homes in the area due to the access to shopping and the Route 22 Thruway, via the Cedar Crest Boulevard exit.

By 2000, after 40 years Crest Plaza was beginning to show its age. In 2002 Crest Plaza was nearly totally rebuilt. All of the stores, except the Weis supermarket on the south end (The original Acme Market) and a few secondary stores, were torn down. The shopping center was rebuilt as a Target Department Store shopping center. In addition, several free-standing satellite stores were built along Cedar Crest Boulevard, one an Applebees restaurant, one a drug store and one a branch bank. In addition the Person's Riding Stable was purchased and its riding field south of Walbert Avenue was redeveloped as part of the rebuilding of the shopping center. In October 2003, the Target opened, along with several relocated storefront businesses in the "New" Crest Plaza.

In addition to the shopping center reconstruction, new alignments of Walbert Avenue and Cedar Crest Boulevard were made along with new traffic signals and a new driveway access to the shopping center.