New apartment complex coming soon to Hawley

HAWLEY, PA — Two three-story buildings in Hawley will soon provide a new source of market-rate housing for the Wayne/Pike area, with construction to start as soon as Spring 2025.  

Dubbed “the Hawley,” the new construction is a response to a perceived need for workforce housing in the local area. 

“There’s really, really an acute need for this,” Adam Tannenbaum, one of the project’s principals, told the River Reporter. He pointed to a housing study commissioned by Wayne Tomorrow! that quantifies that need.

The project will be built on an undeveloped lot at the end of Barker Street, blocks away from Main Street in Hawley. That street already has two apartment buildings—Barker Street Apartments, a low-income housing complex operated by the Wayne County Housing Authority for the elderly, handicapped or disabled; and Hawley Village Apartments, an independent affordable housing complex. 

That placement was an intentional choice, according to Jay Cooperman, another of the project’s principals. He said that when a developer comes into a municipality, it’s best to put new construction where similar uses already exist. And, said Cooperman, the market-rate housing at the Hawley will be a different type of development from its neighbors. 

“We feel it’s going to be a safety issue,” Sharon Wharton, a resident of the existing building, Hawley Village Apartments, told the River Reporter. Wharton said she and other residents are concerned about the additional traffic that the building will add to Barker Street and that the location is not fit for further development 

The project team commissioned a traffic study for the new buildings, which Tannenbaum says shows a “non-noticeable, non-consequential increase in traffic here.”

The traffic study projects 37 “trips”—cars coming in and out of the property—during peak times in the morning and 40 trips during the busiest hour in the afternoon. 

In addition to traffic, Wharton said she’s worried about the overall impacts of having new neighbors next door, like increased usage of water/sewer and noise if families move in with children. 

“It’s more a threat to our tranquility and peaceful way of life,” she said. 

Cooperman acknowledged what neighbors have said about the project, but said that apart from those concerns, “We’ve heard nothing but good vibes about it.”

“There’s absolutely no reason why the borough would not want it… the product that we put up is quality,” he added. 

The project has received approval from the Hawley Borough Council as of the week of November 10, bringing an end to a two-year local permitting process, according to Cooperman. While the project still needs approvals from some outside agencies, he anticipates starting construction in Spring 2025. 

“We could probably have a shovel in the ground by March 1,” he said.