BETHLEHEM -- No slots means no preservation as planned for former Bethlehem Steel Corp. structures.
That announcement came quietly Tuesday from a member of the BethWorks Now team that owns the land and is eyeing the Steel land's redevelopment. Mike Perrucci announced the shift in the team's philosophy a day before city officials begin to consider banning gambling on former Bethlehem Steel Corp. property.
"If we end up getting defeated, none of the marvelous things we're proposing will happen," Perrucci told a meeting of the Mayor's South Side Task Force.
The attorney and Upper Saucon Township resident had said the team would develop 135 acres of Steel land known as the Bethlehem Works regardless of whether slots are approved for the site. A state-licensed slots parlor was simply the key to finishing the job in years rather than decades.
But in laying out the BethWorks Now vision for the task force, Perrucci said he and his partners came to realize the cost of preserving Bethlehem Steel buildings and blast furnaces is too great without the "cash cow" that is gambling.
Some of the buildings need costly structural support, he said. And developing apartments there is projected to cost two to three times that of building them on virgin ground.
"The cost is so exorbitant for preservation," Perrucci said. "And one of the things we kind of pride ourselves on is the preservation of the steel heritage."
Perrucci spoke to the task force to drum up support for slots at this afternoon's meeting of the Bethlehem Planning Commission. The commission is meeting at 4 p.m. in Lehigh University's Packard Lab on Packer Avenue at University Drive.
Parking is available in the nearby lot at Brodhead and Packer avenues, on Packer Avenue and Vine Street, and in the parking decks at the Zoellner Arts Center and Campus Square.
The sole agenda item is a proposed zoning law banning gambling from Bethlehem Works. The commission will recommend approving or denying the law to city council. The ban would become effective with council approval and the signature of the mayor.
The abandoned Bethlehem Works is home to the mills and furnaces that make much of Bethlehem's skyline. The land runs along the southern edge of the Lehigh River from the Fahy Bridge to east of the Minsi Trail Bridge.
Past developers who eyed the land talked of leveling the structures, Perrucci noted.
At least one historical preservationist has seized on the BethWorks Now plan, slots and all, as key to preserving the Bethlehem Steel heritage.
"Gambling is only a means in this case to a much better end," Lance Metz said. "It is a means to an end, and the end will be the preservation hopefully of as much of this plant as possible."
Metz made the claim Friday on city Councilwoman Jean Belinski's radio show on WGPA-AM. Historian for the National Canal Museum in Easton and Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museums Inc., Metz dipped deep into his Steel knowledge to show the importance of preserving the heritage.
University of Pittsburgh officials came to Bethlehem from that other epicenter of steelmaking in the early 20th century for wide-flange beams used to build the school's Cathedral of Learning. Bethlehem Steel products were used to build the Chrysler and Woolworth buildings in Chicago and New York City, respectively; they were prototypes for modern skyscrapers, Metz said.
The Golden Gate, Verrazano Narrows and Chesapeake Bay bridges were built with Bethlehem Steel, as was Madison Square Garden.
"Did you know the world's first Ferris wheel could not be built until Bethlehem Steel forged the central axle and it was the largest steel forging in the world?" Metz asked. The 44-foot-long axle made the wheel turn at the 1892-93 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
"The key thing is not just to preserve a token. A casino is just a token. It's not what we need," Metz said. "It's to preserve as much as technically feasible of these buildings because these buildings are unique in the world."
The specter of gambling in Bethlehem, founded as a religious colony by the Moravians from Germany, has borne stiff opposition. The Greater Bethlehem Area Council of Churches is leading the push with its volunteer-driven Valley Citizens for Casino Free Development.
Opponents cite concerns such as moral issues related to gambling, lost wages and increased crime. Other concerns are the potential loss of business for South Side establishments and increased traffic.
Supporters counter that the BethWorks Now redevelopment would bring jobs and shore up city finances with a $10-million-a-year host fee and property tax revenue.
Perrucci said the slots component would make up 10 to 15 percent of the Bethlehem Works redevelopment. Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of The Venetian in Las Vegas and other facilities, has signed on to the BethWorks Now team to be the slots operator. It would need a state license beyond the city zoning approval.
As for the rest of the land, Perrucci said the team is "very close" to contracting a retail partner who is interested in coming to Bethlehem only if Las Vegas Sands Corp. is allowed to operate the slots parlor. The retail component would be an 800,000-square-foot, upscale mall, he said.
Perrucci declined to name the retail sector's developer. However, sources have said it is The Mills Corp., developer of the Xanadu retail and entertainment complex at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
If completed, slots and the mall would represent two-thirds of BethWorks Now, Perrucci said.
Perrucci and the other partners -- New York City attorney Richard Fischbein and New York-based Newmark & Company Real Estate Inc. -- would then focus on creating 1,000 to 1,200 apartments; on building a performing arts center for Musikfest's parent company, ArtsQuest; a studio for WLVT-TV; and on helping create the National Museum for Industrial History.
Development plans also include a marketplace at the west end of Bethlehem Works, near the Fahy Bridge, where local merchants would be given a discount to set up a place to sell their wares.
Work could begin at the same time to widen Route 412 from Interstate 78 to the Minsi Trail Bridge. President Bush and Congress this summer approved $15 million in a six-year, $286.45 billion federal transportation bill for the widening, estimated at $63 million. About $30 million was already approved for that project, meaning two-thirds of the money is available from the federal government.
Reporter Kurt Bresswein can be reached at 610-867-5000 or by e-mail at kbresswein@express-times.com.