NEW YORK -- Slot machine gaming at the Bethlehem Works site could speed up retail development there by years, the new owners of the historic Bethlehem Steel site said.
BethWorks Now is an investment group consisting of Phillipsburg-area attorney Michael Perrucci, New York attorney Richard Fischbein and three executives of New York real estate developer Newmark and Co. -- including its Chairman Jeff Gural, Vice Chairman Barry Gosin and President James Kuhn.
The group bought 135 acres of former Steel land for $3.16 million cash Sept. 17 in hopes of turning a rusted steel plant into a thriving retail and entertainment district. Perrucci said the sale price doesn't reflect the total cost, which includes some environmental cleanup and other considerations.
Now the group is shopping for architects and designers, holding what Perrucci calls a "beauty contest" for a plan.
Perrucci said his group plans to make public two or three finalists' designs. But BethWorks Now doesn't have a timeframe yet.
That timeframe will depend on whether BethWorks Now is awarded the coveted right to have slots gambling at its site. The Lehigh Valley is earmarked for one of 14 such licenses under the gambling law passed this year.
"Gaming could take a 10-year project and take it down to a three-year project," Perrucci said.
A gambling center would be run by a major gaming company and operate in the former Ore Yard, the area east of the Minsi Trail Bridge, Perrucci said.
The investors said gaming would help pay for other planned developments, including an upscale mall at the site.
Two similar projects are proposed for the suburbs -- Birmingham, Ala.-based Bayer Properties plans to break ground on the 300-acre Summit at Lehigh Valley at the Route 33 interchange with Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem Township, while Poag & McEwen proposed a similar shopping center off Route 309 in the Stabler Corporate Center in Upper Saucon Township.
Fischbein said BethWorks Now believes the Lehigh Valley could support more than one lifestyle center, although the investors say their "destination" would be driven by gaming.
"Gambling will drive retail," Kuhn said, acknowledging his company has never worked with casino operators before.
Kuhn's companies have helped redevelop TriBeCa, SoHo and the area under the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn.
Gaming wasn't part of the original plan the investors envisioned. Gaming companies came to them and said they liked the site, Kuhn said.
"We've got what's going to become the center of town in Bethlehem," Kuhn said.
Even if the gambling license doesn't come, Kuhn said the group will retain ownership and develop the site the way the market dictates.
"We're not sellers," Kuhn said.
Perrucci said he'd like to incorporate some of the ideas presented to him by ArtsQuest President Jeff Parks, who envisioned a massive arts park including several of the area's nonprofit organizations.
But Perrucci said the total expanse of Parks' plan -- having a big enough place to relocate Musikfest, for example -- probably won't fit in the space allotted.
BethWorks Now also renewed Bethlehem Steel's agreement with the proposed National Museum of Industrial History, giving efforts by the museum one more year to raise enough money to start operating.
The Smithsonian-affiliated museum has rights to one building at the site -- the former Electrical Shop -- which museum Chief Executive Officer Stephen Donches wants to renovate to house industrial artifacts from throughout American history.
If the museum can't raise the money it needs to start building, BethWorks Now may exercise its option to regain ownership of the building.
But historic preservation is a goal of the site, Fischbein said.
The investors all said they hope to preserve and reuse as many buildings on the site as possible.
"This is a site that helped build America," Perrucci said.
The investors said they plan to keep Steel's signature blast furnaces in place as long as they find someone who will take care of them.